Quest for Power Series 5: Layla's Power of Tides
by hansbmd
Summary: Layla returns home to Tides for a family wedding only to find out that her parents have just arranged her marriage! She escapes back to Alfea, but the dark wizard she's supposed to marry follows her, leading her to a huge discovery about the Winx Club!
1. Plans for Saturday

**Author's Note (read this please!):** everyone. All right, so we're back with the next story in the Quest for Power Series! This is the big one, the most important story in the entire saga, because in this story, you'll find out the plot behind all the villains trying to steal the girls' powers. This first chapter is just sort of a recap of the series so far in case you haven't read the other four stories. However, if you are reading this and have not read the others, READ THEM! They're not that long and you'll follow the chain of event much more smoothly. And trust me when I say that you won't understand anything that happens in the rest of the series if you do not read this. This story is also going to begin prepping you for the story that's number eight in this series. But you'll have to wait until we get to that chapter.

This chapter is going to reference back to some events that happened in the previous four stories, so if I got a detail wrong or something, just tell me and I'll see if I can fix it (writers aren't perfect you know!). See if you recognize one or two things that have so far been mentioned in passing. Happy reading!

**Chapter 1: Plans for Saturday**

Monday morning found the girls of the Winx Club exhausted from all their adventures. The last few weeks had been taxing for all of them. Almost immediately after they'd returned to school from summer vacation, they'd been catapulted into another adventure. The witches, along with a girl called Guinevere who had been under a curse at the time, had kidnapped Flora and taken her back to Lynphea. But with the help of the girls, Flora had managed to gain the full power of her realm, break the curse on Guinevere, her cousin, and had freed Guinevere's realm of Rampara from total and complete darkness that had reigned there ever since the birth of Queen Earshra.

Directly afterwards, they'd had to go to Zenith to rescue Tecna from a dark wizard called Paritho, where it was revealed that she was the true princess of her realm and that she was the key to unlocking its power. He then took her back to his realm of Angelicas, preparing to marry her, but the group found a fairy called Nirvana, the real princess of Angelicas, who was able to help them defeat Paritho.

Most recently, the witches had tricked Musa into believing Riven didn't love her so that she would be easy bait for a wizard called Rancor to turn her into a witch as well. Her friends had had to jump through hoops to defeat him, save Musa and keep her safe until her powers reached their peak. But he was eventually defeated as well, allowing the girls to spend the rest of the following day resting.

However, after two days of resting, they weren't even close to getting all their stamina back. These three missions had all occurred within a space of two and a half weeks, plus they had all their schoolwork to do. This Monday morning, all of them just wanted to stay in bed and not even leave their rooms for the rest of the week. They were almost late for breakfast, because they had slept so late.

"I don't know about you girls, but I think I'm in need of a spa day," said Bloom, as they walked down to breakfast.

"I hear that Bloom," said Stella. "I can book a spa for us on Saturday."

"That sounds wonderful," said Flora. "In the meantime, school will keep us busy."

"Flora, can you also use some of that aromamagictherapy stuff to relax us?" asked Layla.

"Anytime you need it," said Flora.

"Good, because Layla's not the only one who could do with something of it," said Tecna, as they started eating.

"Definitely," said Musa. "I'm so tired, I feel as though I could go back to bed and sleep until Friday."

"What would Riven say if you slept until Friday?" asked Nirvana.

"He'd probably start worrying about me again, like I'd been placed under another sleeping spell or if Rancor had come back and done something to me," said Musa. "Either that or he'd think it was nothing and I'd be fine until he sees me again."

"What do you mean by 'another sleeping spell?'" asked Guinevere.

"Oh that," said Bloom, remembering the rigmarole they'd had to go through before all this commotion about their realm's ultimate powers had begun. "At the end of last year, we were part of the boys' final exam. They had to go through this big obstacle course and then had to save us from a monster. We were placed under a sleeping spell while they did that. We were all nervous about it, but the teachers assured us we wouldn't be in any danger."

"I wonder if the boys are as tired as we are," said Stella.

"What with all the adventures we've been going on lately, them doing everything they can to help us, combined with their classes at Red Fountain, they're probably even more exhausted than we are," said Tecna.

"Maybe we should have lunch or something after the spa on Saturday," said Bloom.

"That sounds like a good idea," said Flora. "I'd love to spend some quality time with Helia after what's been happening."

"So are you going to tell us what happened on Lynphea?" asked Stella suddenly.

"What do you mean?" asked Flora, exchanging a nervous glance with Guinevere.

"I mean what happened while Brandon, Sky and Riven were off spying on the witches?" asked Stella. "What did the queen take you and Guinevere up to see? I know Helia followed you, so if you don't tell me, I can and will pump the information out of him."

"You know you really shouldn't be asking us that," said Guinevere angrily.

"Yeah, Mom told you that room was a family secret," said Flora.

"But I hate secrets!" said Stella angrily. "Brandon's not allowed to have them, you shouldn't be either!"

"That's different," said Musa. "There shouldn't be secrets between boyfriend and girlfriend. But Flora and Guinevere are cousins, they can tell each other anything that has to do with their family. They're probably no secrets between them."

"Right," said Flora, though Guinevere looked a little nervous. There was one secret she hadn't told any of the others, not even Flora and that was about her missing sister, Elbereath. When the spell over Rampara was broken, she looked all over for her sister, but soon realized that she was nowhere in the realm. This worried her, because unlike Guinevere, who had been born a fairy then cursed into a witch, Elbereath herself had been born a witch and even though she knew there was a fairy deep down inside, Guinevere wasn't sure if the curse's influence over her sister had diminished or not, nor would she know until she found her.

Shortly before leaving Rampara, she'd requested that she be kept informed of the search for her sister, while grumbling that she should be helping as well. But her parents had made her go on to Alfea and said not to worry. She had been receiving notes from the Royal Guard of Rampara every few days that all said the same thing, there was no news of Elbereath whatsoever. She had started casting tracking spells in her off time, but so far those hadn't turned up anything either.

Fortunately, none of the girls noticed her moment of distraction and she tried hard to concentrate on the conversation as Tecna said, "besides, Flora and Guinevere are duty-bound to keep the secret of wherever they went that day. We shouldn't even be talking about it, Stella.

"Looks like I'll just have to ask Helia," said Stella.

"No you won't!" said Bloom. "You know Helia won't tell you, and we won't let you ask him."

"Yeah Stella, lay off," said Musa.

"But something happened!" said Stella. "Something happened while you three were up there. Don't think I didn't notice. You and Helia weren't looking at each other when you came back downstairs and when you did look at each other, it was furtively and you quickly looked away. Then after everything had settled down, you both were looking as though your birthdays had come early. Tell me what happened."

"No!" said Flora sharply.

Luckily for her, the bell rang and Stella didn't have time to ask more questions. Flora and Guinevere thought back to the Room of Time in the palace of Lynphea, a room that held all sorts of trinkets that would allow the viewer to see different things in time. The room's greatest treasure was the Pool of Infinity, which showed past, present and definite future. Each girl had seen how her individual realm was created and then had looked into the future and seen their coronations. Guinevere had met Andrew, the boy who would become King of Rampara, a few days ago. Flora and Helia had seen themselves being crowned King and Queen of Lynphea as well. At first, both had been embarrassed to admit it, but they were glad they were destined for true love.

"The first chance I get, I'm going to put a spell on Helia, so he won't tell Stella," she thought to herself. "I know he would never willingly tell her but if she casts a spell on him, he'll have no choice." She broke herself away from her thoughts as Palladium began lecturing and turned to face the front of the classroom.

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Over at Red Fountain, the boys were finishing up their breakfast and walking to their first class.

"I hope the next adventure isn't for a very long time," said Brandon, though he knew better than to get his hopes up.

"Me too," said Sky. "I think we ought to take the girls out to lunch on Saturday. You know, like a day to relax from what's been happening."

"Not just from the adventures, but from classes," said Riven. "This week's gonna be killer; we have tests in just about everything."

"I know," said Jason. "I just want to get out, get Layla and start dancing just to work off some school stress."

"Some quality time with the girls is just the thing we need," said Timmy. "But let's hope this time lunch will go better than the last time." He remembered the last time they'd taken the girls out for lunch, when Tecna had ran from the restaurant crying because of something Stella had said.

"Any chance I get to get to know Guinevere better is fine with me," said the newest member of the group, Andrew.

"Seeing Flora is enough to lift my mood any day," said Helia, a far off look in his eye.

"So what did happen on Lynphea, Helia?" asked Brandon slyly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Helia.

"When you disappeared after Flora and Guinevere," said Brandon. "You followed them up to that secret room and came back looking everywhere except right at Flora. I wanna know what happened."

"My gosh Brandon, you're starting to sound like Stella," said Helia.

"He's right," said Riven. "You've been spending too much time with her if you're starting to talk and think like her."

"Come on, like you're not starting to think like Musa," said Sky. Riven didn't answer that. Helia knew he'd have to be extra careful, with Brandon trying to worm the information out of him and he had a feeling Stella would be badgering him, Flora and Guinevere about it many times in the near future.

"If I tell anyone what happened, Flora will never forgive me. I'd better be on my guard from now on," he thought to himself.

After classes that day, Sky called Bloom and invited her and the rest of the girls to lunch with the boys on Saturday. They arranged to meet them at noon, after their spa day.

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As she laid in bed that night, Layla tried to will sleep to come to her, but it just evaded her that night. She knew she needed rest, with classes in the morning and the next adventure to come, but she was too wound up to sleep. Something had been bugging her for the last two days and she knew if she didn't tell someone, she'd explode. But when she looked at her clock and saw that it was after midnight, she knew she couldn't tell anyone yet. The girls would kill her if she woke one up to talk and she didn't think Jason would appreciate being woken up at this hour either.

She cast a small spell that would give light to her and her alone, so as not to wake up Guinevere and pulled a journal off the bookshelf next to her. She opened it to the first blank page and began to write.

_There's something strange about this last mission we were on. I'm glad we got Musa back all right, but the villains we were fighting just disappeared on us. It doesn't surprise me that the witches vanished. Those three are like bad pennies, they always turn up. I have a feeling they'll be back within the next couple days._

_But there's something else. I can't help but wonder what happened to Rancor after we defeated him. I mean, we didn't have to worry about Guinevere because the curse was broken and Paritho is locked up in the dungeons of Angelicas, but Rancor just faded away. I don't think he has enough strength left to challenge us at the moment, but someday, he's going to regain his energy and come after us again, this time for revenge. If someone else attacks us at the same time, we're done for. I'd feel better if I knew what happened to him, but for now, I'd better just hope that he isn't going to make an appearance._

She shut the journal and replaced it on her bookshelf before muttering a small spell to extinguish the light. She laid back in bed and closed her eyes, glad that she'd gotten that worry off her chest, even though she'd have felt better if she'd said it out loud.

What she didn't know was that despite the fact that she'd only lit her side of the room, Guinevere was still awake. Sleep wasn't coming to her so easily either. This wasn't the first time she'd seen Layla writing in that journal either. She'd seen her writing the night they broke the spell Rancor had put on Musa and on a few other occasions as well and it confused her to no end.

"What is she up to?" asked Guinevere. "She really doesn't strike me as the journal type, yet every few nights when she's sure I'm asleep, she gets that thing out and writes. There must be something on her mind, but if I'm allowed a secret, so is she. She'll tell us when she's ready, just as I'll tell the girls about Elbereath when I'm ready." She sighed and tried to fall asleep despite the worries over her sister that were clouding her brain.

**Author's Note:** All right, so that's the first chapter. I know, nothing very exciting but I had to have kind of a startup. I also needed a reason for the girls to go out to lunch with the guys. This way, I'm able to introduce a new guy character. Can any of you guess who that'll be?

Let me ask, did any of you recognize the journal from the last story? Remember it. It's going to show up again later in the story and it's going to be instrumental in the girls finding out the villain's master plan. As for Guinevere's sister, Elbereath, she's not going to actually make her debut until story #7, but Guinevere is going to mention her occasionally. Wait until you find out the role she plays in the story. Stay tuned!


	2. Couple Reunited, Couple Divided

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! All right, so this is just kind of a filler chapter. There's nothing much interesting happening in it, except for the reason that Layla has to leave for Tides in the next chapter. Also in the last chapter, I said that I'd be introducing a new character in this one. I only had one person who got it right by guessing that it was the missing boyfriend, Carlos. Congratulations to Blosiom for that! Happy reading!

**Chapter 2: Couple Reunited, Couple Divided**

For the rest of the week, the girls and the guys concentrated on their lessons, trying to get their homework done before midnight each night. For Guinevere and Nirvana, this was a chore, for they had more to learn than the rest of the girls.

"Why did Ms. Faragonda put us in the junior year?" asked Nirvana on Friday night. It had been an exhausting week for all the girls. "I was supposed to start Alfea this year sure, but I thought I was going to start with freshmen year like everyone else does when they first arrive."

"It's because we've got our full power," said Guinevere. "We've got more power than the fairies in the freshmen class, so we automatically got put at the same level as the other girls. Plus you're too old to go in freshman year. You're seventeen, right?" Nirvana nodded.

"You two need this spa day more than the rest of us," said Stella.

"You're both coming to the spa and to lunch, right?" asked Bloom.

Guinevere nodded but Nirvana said, "I'll go to the spa but I'm coming straight back here after that."

"How come Nirvana?" asked Tecna.

"Because going out with you guys while you're with your boyfriends makes me think of my boyfriend back home," replied Nirvana. "His name was Carlos and the last time I saw him was right before Paritho attacked. We had dinner together and the next day, Paritho took over the realm. I was locked inside the palace, just a maid, never allowed to leave. I thought about Carlos every day until you guys released Angelicas from Paritho's grip. I looked for him after that, but he'd gone. When I went looking for him, all I found was this." And she held up the letter that he'd left her in his home.

Guinevere read it aloud to the rest of the group and by the time she was done, almost every girl had tears in her eyes.

"That is the single most beautiful thing I've ever heard," said Bloom. The others nodded.

"And you haven't seen or heard from since before Paritho showed up?" asked Musa.

"Not a word, I miss him so much," said Nirvana, tears beginning to stream down her face at the thought of her missing love.

"We're sorry Nirvana," said Flora. "We had no idea."

"What's he look like?" asked Stella, casting her mind around to all the guys she knew and thinking maybe she'd seen him in passing.

"Tall, dark, wavy hair, tanned skin, brown eyes, cute accent," said Nirvana, thinking of how much she always swooned whenever he spoke to her. "But what struck me about him was how much of a gentleman he was. He always thought of others, his family, his realm, me, before ever thinking of himself. I think the only people he loved more than me were his parents and his sister."

"We'll find him Nirvana, don't worry," said Musa, putting her arm around her friend's shoulders.

This got Layla thinking. After Nirvana had gone to bed, she and the rest of the girls went in Bloom and Flora's room to hear her idea. "Listen guys," she said. "I'll bet the reason she couldn't find Carlos was because he was at Red Fountain. He must have transferred there at the start of the year. Think about it, by the time we freed Angelicas, the school year had already started."

"Do you think there's a chance he went back to Angelicas after the danger had ended?" asked Guinevere.

"I doubt it," replied Layla. "I'd never heard of Angelicas before we went to save Tecna. It's probably difficult to get correspondence there from Magix, where hardly any people have any knowledge of it. So, I'll bet he doesn't know that Paritho isn't in power anymore and is still training to save Nirvana. And Red Fountain is the best hero school in all the realms to learn how to do that."

"That's a good idea Layla," said Musa. "I didn't think of that."

"And I'll find out if you're right," said Stella. She whipped out her cell phone and called Brandon.

"Hey Stella, what's up?" he asked as he picked up the phone.

"Hey Bran, is there a boy over there named Carlos?" asked Stella.

"Yeah, he just transferred here from another hero's school," said Brandon. "It's pretty rare for a student to enter Red Fountain senior year, and he's Andrew's roommate. Why do you wanna know about him? You're not dumping me for him are you?"

"No way," said Stella. "I would never go out with anyone else. What's he like and where's he from? Did he by any chance come from Nirvana's realm, Angelicas?"

"I think so. He's tall, dark hair and skin, kind of moody. He's been really distant ever since he got here. He won't talk to much of anyone unless he's spoken to. When Andrew asked him about it, he just said he was worried about his girlfriend back home."

"I knew it! He's Nirvana's boyfriend. She told us about him and Layla figured out that he might be going to Red Fountain. So listen, bring him with you to lunch tomorrow and we'll try to coax Nirvana to come with us. Don't tell him why you're bringing him. I want it to be a surprise for both of them."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," said Brandon. "I love you."

"I love you too. Bye!" replied Stella, as she hung up the phone. "It's all set. Brandon and the rest of the guys are bringing Carlos, now all we have to do is convince Nirvana to come with us."

"Good plan Stell," said Musa. "I can't wait to see the look on Nirvana's face."

"Don't you think you should've asked Brandon to tell Carlos the plan?" asked Tecna.

"No, I don't, because like I said, I want it to be a surprise for both of them," replied Stella. "This will be a day for them both to remember."

The next morning, the girls hit the spa and each got the full works: massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, etc. By the time they came out, they each felt refreshed, reenergized and ready to take on whatever challenge that came to them, whether it was school or the next adventure.

"Why do you guys want me to come to lunch with you?" asked Nirvana.

"Because we have a surprise for you," said Bloom. "Trust us, you'll love it."

"Now, when we get there, we're going to ask you to close your eyes and we'll tell you when the time is right to open them," said Flora.

"All right," said Nirvana, apprehensively, "but I gotta tell you, I don't know about this."

"Relax," said Stella. "You'll love what we've got in store for you."

------------

The boys were already waiting for the girls at the restaurant. Brandon had told the rest of the boys about the plan the previous night, so Andrew had talked Carlos into coming with them.

"I still don't see why you wanted me to come," he said. Carlos was a handsome young man with black hair, brown eyes and very tanned skin. His name was appropriate, for he had what Bloom later recognized as a Spanish accent.

"We have a surprise for you, that's why," said Helia.

"Where is this surprise?" asked Carlos.

"The girls are bringing it," Sky said simply.

"I don't know what you're trying to do by introducing me to your girlfriends, but I've decided I don't want to know," said Carlos. "I'm going back to Red Fountain."

"No you're not," said Brandon. "You'll want to see this surprise."

"Yeah, just trust us," said Timmy

"Look, there are the girls," said Andrew. Carlos tried to leave again, but Riven and Jason grabbed him by the arms and marched him back to the entrance of the restaurant, thereby forcing him to stay.

"Just stand here and close your eyes," said Jason.

"All right, but I don't know about this," said Carlos, standing there with his eyes shut.

"Just relax," said Riven irritably. "And don't look until we tell you to."

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"Ok, here we are," said Bloom.

"Are you ready Nirvana?" asked Layla. Nirvana started to say, "I don't know," but Stella cut her off.

"Sure she is! Now close your eyes." Nirvana did what she was told and let Bloom and Stella guide her over the restaurant.

"Hey girls," she heard Sky say.

"Okay on the count of three, both of you open your eyes," said Stella.

"Both of us?" Nirvana and Carlos said silently

"1…2…3!" yelled Stella. Carlos and Nirvana both opened their eyes and stood there, shocked for a few seconds.

"Oh my gosh," said Nirvana, when she saw her boyfriend standing there.

"Am I dreaming?" asked Carlos, staring at Nirvana. A wide smile broke out on Nirvana's face and suddenly, she ran at him. He lifted her up in his arms, spinning her around, both of them laughing as though they'd never laughed before. When he set her back down, he gave her a kiss on the lips to show that he was happy to be reunited with her once more.

"I've missed you," said Nirvana.

"I've missed you too," said Carlos, hugging her tightly. "Where were you? I heard Paritho had been defeated, but when I went back to Angelicas to look for you, you were gone."

"A few days after he was defeated, my parents sent me here. Are you all right? Did you manage to get everyone past Paritho's defenses? What about Kendra? Is she all right?"

"She's fine," said Carlos, thinking of his sister and parents, who were settling back into their home in Angelicas. Carlos had opted to stay at Red Fountain, where he decided to finish his hero training.

Needless to say, this lunch date went considerably better than their last one. Each couple bonded a little more, awe-inspired by what they had seen from Carlos and Nirvana. When they got back to Alfea that afternoon, Stella said, "who wants to go for lunch next week?"

"I can't," said Layla. "I have to go back to Tides for a few days next weekend. My cousin is getting married and I promised her I'd be her maid of honor."

"You?" asked Musa. "I thought you hated stuff like weddings."

"I do, but my mom sort of tricked me into agreeing to it," said Layla.

"Do you need a date?" asked Jason hopefully.

"I'm sorry Jason," said Layla. "I asked my parents if I could bring you and they said no." Seeing the look on his face, she said, "I'm sorry. I've wanted to introduce you to them for awhile now, but they keep making excuses not to. Don't ask me why, I've given up trying to figure them out."

"Oh, okay," said Jason, sounding disappointed.

"I really am sorry," she said, and she looked it too. The boys went back to Red Fountain a few minutes later, taking a hurt Jason with them. When the girls returned to their rooms was when they got on Layla's back about what she'd just said.

"Was that really necessary Layla?" asked Bloom, when they got back up to their dorm rooms.

"What do you mean?" asked Layla.

"Look, I know you sometimes feel a little uncomfortable around Jason, but he really likes you," replied Bloom. "I don't get why you brushed him off like that, it's not like you. Why did you do that to him?"

"Yeah Layla, I went to a lot of trouble to set you two up," said Stella. "If you don't like spending time with him fine, but you didn't have to go and crush him like that."

"You guys, I was telling the truth out there," said Layla. "I honestly did ask my parents if I could bring him to the wedding and they said no. I don't know why they did, but they did."

"Really?" asked Flora.

"Yeah, you see occasionally I get a call from my parents, you know them wanting an update," said Layla. "Almost every time they call, I ask them when I can bring Jason home and introduce him, but they keep saying things like, 'you can bring him home soon,' or 'maybe on your next break.' It's driving me crazy because I had actually arranged a time for them to meet, but before I could tell Jason, Dad was telling me how we couldn't do it because of some conference he had to go to. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was lying, but I couldn't do anything about it. I set up another date, but we had to cancel that one too and then it happened again about a week later."

"How long has this been going on?" asked Musa.

"I've been trying to persuade them to let me bring him home for about a month," said Layla. "But they won't do it. Then, when I found out my cousin was getting married, I realized I'd need an escort, so I asked them if I could bring him and they said no. When I see them this weekend, I'm gonna demand the whole truth, once and for all."

"Do you think maybe they set up an arranged marriage or something for you?" asked Guinevere.

"I hope not," replied Layla. "I hate the idea of an arranged marriage. I'll let the witches capture me and doom myself to eternal torment before I agree to one of those."

"That's a little drastic, don't you think?" asked Nirvana.

"I know, but that can't be what it is," said Layla. "Mom and Dad always promised me I could find someone on my own. Mom even said she was looking forward to meeting the guy I picked. And now, I'm this close to introducing them to Jason and they won't even see him."

"That is strange," said Tecna. "I couldn't bear it if my parents wouldn't let me bring Timmy home and introduce him. It would make me think that they didn't trust my judgment."

"I remember how scared I was when Helia came to visit me over the summer," said Flora. "He just turned up one day without even calling me. I was overjoyed but I was scared of what my parents would think of him. I was so relieved they liked him."

"What are you going to say to your parents Layla?" asked Guinevere

"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something," replied Layla.

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"I don't know guys," said Jason, when they boys got back to Red Fountain. "What if Layla doesn't love me the way I love her? I think she's the greatest thing in the world and she treats me as though I'm nothing. Maybe I should just find another girlfriend and move on."

"You can't do that," said Helia. "The worst thing for a girl is her boyfriend dumping her. Just give her a little more time to get used to the idea of having a boyfriend. Personally, I think she's still getting used to having so many friends in the Winx Club."

"If you do it, she might never get over it," said Brandon. "You have to be patient."

"What do you know about patience Brandon, you can't go three days without having to see Stella," said Riven, smirking.

"You're not helping, Riven," said Sky, glaring at him.

"But what if I'm right?" asked Jason. "What if she doesn't want to take our relationship further?"

"It looked to me like she does," said Andrew. "Did you see the look on her face?"

"Yeah, what of it?" asked Jason.

"She was telling you the truth Jason, it was obvious," said Carlos, thinking the same thing as Andrew. "She wanted to take you back to Tides, but for some reason her parents said no."

"Yeah, why don't you talk to Layla and see what's up?" asked Timmy.

"I don't know, maybe I should just…" began Jason but Riven cut him off.

"Stop obsessing, you know Layla likes you, so lay off for a while."

"I think what he means to say is give Layla a little space and see if she can find out why her parents said no to you," said Sky. Riven just nodded.

"Maybe you guys are right," said Jason. "I'm going to my room, I need to think." He went in and lay down on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling, the same thoughts rushing through his mind. "What am I supposed to do if Layla dumps me? Maybe I should dump her and save myself the heartache. But then Helia's right, it'll hurt her and me if I do that. I wish I could just understand what goes through Layla's mind. I mean, if she doesn't like me that much, she would have stopped going out with me ages ago, but if she does like me, she wouldn't have said what she said. But maybe she was telling me the truth. I'm just scared she doesn't feel the same way as I do. I've fallen for her and she hasn't given any sign that she even cares for me. No, think positive, she does care for me. I love her and someday I'll get the courage to tell her that." He kept thinking these thoughts until he finally drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:** All right, so that's chapter two. Again, not very exciting, but I wanted Carlos and Nirvana reunited quickly and I had to cue the fact that Layla's going home in the next chapter. I also had to start getting in a little bit of tension between Layla and Jason, because even though they're going to be all right for this story, they're not going to be the best couple of the group. Next chapter is going to have Layla going home and finding out the truth about why her parents don't want Jason around. Stay tuned!


	3. An Arranged Marriage

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! All right, so when we left off, Nirvana was reunited with her boyfriend, Carlos, and Layla announced that she had to go back to Tides for a family wedding, but couldn't bring Jason, leaving him heartbroken. This chapter is sort of going to set the plot for the rest of the story in motion. There isn't any action in it, not until the next chapter. But you can guess what's going to happen from the title. Poor Layla, she's in for a shock. Happy reading!

**Chapter 3: An Arranged Marriage**

Over the next week, the girls didn't have any communication with the boys, except for a text message or an IM. They were all so busy with school that they barely had time to think of each other. On Friday, Layla was in her and Guinevere's room, packing her things for the trip to Tides.

"I should have left an hour ago," said Layla, checking her watch. "The wedding rehearsal is in three hours and my mother wanted me home so she could oversee my getting groomed up. She's one of those moms' who wants every single thing about her daughter to be perfect for a special event and that takes time. I was hoping for a swim with some of my mermaid friends before that, but it doesn't look like I'll have time."

"When will you be back?" asked Guinevere, sitting on her bed, reading a magazine.

"On Sunday," said Layla. "After the wedding tomorrow night, I'll pack my things up and be ready to leave first thing Sunday morning. I might go for a swim with the mermaids then actually. There's nothing more fun than going swimming in the sea with your friends. And when I get back, I'll talk to Jason and tell him what my parents said. They have to tell me why they won't let me bring him. I think I deserve an explanation, don't you?"

"Definitely," said Guinevere. "I don't see why they won't let you take him home with you, he's a really cool guy and he's crazy about you Layla."

"I know. I want them to realize that."

"Well, I hope you manage to convince them."

"Thanks Guinevere," said Layla, hugging her. She closed the lid on her suitcase and walked out into Bloom and Flora's room, where the rest of the girls were chatting. "I'm off, I'll see you guys on Sunday."

"Be careful," said Flora. "All the danger isn't over yet and this event might be a good time for someone to try and take your powers."

"If they want my powers, then they'd better be ready for a fight," said Layla.

"Just keep on the lookout," said Musa.

"Do you want me to take you back to Tides?" asked Stella. "I can get you there in ten seconds flat."

"Would you Stella?" asked Layla. "That would be great." Stella transformed, threw the ring of Solaria in the air and took hold of her staff. Layla said goodbye to all the girls, hugged them each and went to stand next to Stella.

"Transportus back homus," said Stella. She and Layla disappeared in a flash of light. In a few seconds, they reappeared in Tides. Layla looked around her home realm and said, "home sweet home."

"I'll see you in a few days, be safe," said Stella. "And take some pictures so I can see what everyone was wearing."

"I'll see what I can do," said Layla. "See you on Sunday." Stella waved her staff and disappeared in another flash of light. Layla looked around her realm. It was just the way she remembered it, nothing had changed. The town with its bustling marketplaces and thousands of people, the smell of salty sea air every place and her beautiful palace, situated right next to the ocean, surrounded by water on three sides. The glistening ocean, sparkling in the radiant sun of Tides, stretched for miles as far as the eye could see. On every shoreline in the realm, there were beaches with people tanning and playing in the surf. Layla walked to the palace, taking her favorite path next to the water. Some waves came up next to her and she realized that it was all her mermaid friends, swimming up to greet her.

"Princess Layla!" they all yelled, waving to her. "Welcome home!"

"Hey guys!" she yelled back. "It's great to see you all!"

"Princess Layla," said a voice behind her. She turned around to see one of the palace guards. He bowed to her and said, "it's good to have you home, Your Highness."

"Hello Triton, it's good to see you too and please don't call me Your Highness," said Layla.

"But Princess, it is the way to greet the heir to the throne," he said, as he walked her back to the palace.

"I'm not just a princess you know," said Layla. "I'm a regular girl too. I'd like to be thought of that way."

"If that's what you want," said Triton. He stopped at the guard post. There weren't many guards at the palace, because Tides relied on the elite mermaid guard, which patrolled the water and reported all signs of trouble to the king and queen. Layla couldn't help the feeling of separation she'd felt for her home all these months. It always felt a little strange, coming home from school during a vacation. But that always passed within the first few hours and she always got used to being back, even if she did have to see to her duties as a princess.

She wanted to take a few moments to bask in the joy of being back in her beautiful realm, but she didn't have the time or the chance. One of the servants walked up to her and said, "welcome home Princess Layla. Her Majesty, Queen Lyra, wishes to see you immediately in the throne room. May I take your bag up to your room?"

"Thank you Alyssa," said Layla. She walked to the throne room, wondering what her mom wanted to see her about, hoping it was an explanation about Jason.

"There you are Layla," said Queen Lyra, hugging her daughter. "It's wonderful to have you home my dear."

"Thank you Mother," said Layla. "It's good to be home."

"How's school been going? Are you studying hard?"

"Always," replied Layla. She was surprised she'd been able to sleep the last two months. Having to juggle school around power-crazed villains trying to steal her and her friend's powers wasn't exactly a walk in the park. She didn't dare mention that to her mother though. She didn't want to give her mother any reason to bring her home, away from her friends and away from Jason, though she wasn't going to admit that last part to anyone either.

"Now that you're back, we have several things to attend to," said her mom. "I want to make sure the dress you're wearing tomorrow night fits. I have laid out another one for you to where tonight. Your cousin arrived yesterday and she's wanted to see you for quite some time. She wants to catch up as she says. She's waiting outside by the western beach when you're ready to see her."

"I wanted to have a talk with you and Dad when you have a moment," said Layla.

"Of course dear," said Queen Lyra. "But your father is busy at the moment. Can this wait until after the rehearsal dinner tonight?"

"I guess so," said Layla. "What's Dad doing anyway?"

"He's meeting with a diplomat from another realm. You're going to have to learn how to do all this soon you know. You're supposed to ascend the throne in just four years."

"I know that, Mom," said Layla, rolling her eyes. "I'll learn what I have to."

"Four years may seem like a long time now, but you have to learn it while you have time to," said Queen Lyra. "The years will fly by, believe me. Now you should go upstairs and try on your dress for tomorrow night. Ariel's waiting for you after that."

Layla was then shepherded upstairs, where she spent the next half hour standing up straight with her bridesmaid's dress on, so the royal seamstress could see what alterations were needed. She promised to have it ready before the wedding the next day.

As there were a couple hours left before the rehearsal dinner and it never took her very long to prepare for a formal event, Layla decided to walk down to the beach to find her cousin. When she reached the beach, she took her shoes off and let them dangle in her hand, loving the feeling of the sand between her toes. She walked down to the edge of the water and let the surf wash over her feet. She loved that too. As she walked further down the western bank, she saw something beginning to surface out of the water. She relaxed when she saw that it was one of her mermaid friends.

"Princess Layla, it's so good to see you!" said the mermaid.

"Cyrene, hey," said Layla. "It's great to see you too."

"Do you have time for a swim?" asked Cyrene.

"I wish I did," replied Layla. "What about tomorrow, first thing in the morning? Go and tell some of our friends and we'll all swim together. We can all catch up and I bet I'll need someone to talk to tomorrow, after I've had a certain talk with my parents concerning my boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend? What's he like?"

Layla wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was still very awkward for her to talk about Jason sometimes, making it difficult on her when people started grilling her for details. But thankfully, the sound of someone calling her name saved her from the grilling session. She turned to see her cousin running down the beach towards her and a smile broke out on her face.

"I have to go, I'll talk to you tomorrow," said Layla. "Bye Cyrene." Cyrene waved goodbye and dived back into the ocean, promising to round up a few of their friends. Layla ran up to her cousin, gave her a large hug and said, "Ariel, it's great to see you!"

"Layla, it's great to see you too, I've missed you!" said Ariel. She looked a lot like Layla, except she had pale skin and black hair that reached halfway to her knees. But in the face, the two girls looked almost exactly like. It was a family likeness, for Layla's mother and Ariel's mother were twin sisters.

"What have you been up to since I saw you last?" asked Layla, as the two girls walked down the beach together.

"Well for the last seven months, I've been trying to get things ready for my wedding," replied Ariel. "I want everything to be perfect for tomorrow night and since you're my only cousin and my best friend, I was overjoyed when you said you'd be my maid of honor. I know you're a tomboy, not into dressing up and all, but it was so sweet of you to do this for me."

Layla didn't want to say that she was doing this because her mother made her, not because she wanted to. But Ariel was such a good friend to her that she couldn't say no anyway. Ariel had been instrumental when Layla found out that her friend, Anne was leaving. She was still afraid sometimes that she'd lose one of her friends at Alfea the same way, but with each passing day, those fears diminished more and more.

She decided to say, "It's no problem. So who is this guy you're gonna marry?"

"His name's Christopher and he's compassionate and loving, and cute as can be. I can't wait for you to meet him and I want to hear about your boyfriend."

"How did you know I had a boyfriend?"

"I heard you talking to that mermaid. What's he like?"

Layla had to suppress a sigh as she heard that question again. She should've known Ariel would ask it as well, but she'd wanted to avoid it. After a moment's silence, she said, "Jason is a really nice guy. He's heroic and brave, unafraid of a challenge. My friend Stella set us up on a blind date and we hit it off. It took me a little while to get used to the idea of having a boyfriend, but he's grown on me."

"Did you bring him home with you?"

"I wanted to," said Layla, an edge to her voice now. "I even asked Mom and Dad if I could, but they wouldn't let me. I've been trying to set a time for them to meet Jason for a month, but they keep postponing it. I'm having a talk with them after the rehearsal dinner to find out why. You don't happen to know why, do you?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you had a boyfriend until a few minutes ago," said Ariel. "But that's strange. I mean, they normally don't object when you bring friends home, granted you don't bring friends home very often."

"I know I don't," said Layla. "They're not used to having guests who aren't diplomats or something. I wish they'd see that there's a part of me that isn't the princess. I want to be treated like a normal girl for once."

"Have I ever not treated you like a normal girl?" asked Ariel, turning to face Layla so that she was walking backwards along the beach.

"That's what I love about having you around, Ariel," said Layla. "You and my friends at Alfea make me forget I'm a princess and make me feel like I'm just a girl, which is a blessing to me."

"No problem," said Ariel. She looked down at her watch and said, "Lord, is that really the time? We have to get back up to the palace and get ready for the rehearsal. It's supposed to be the groom who's late on the wedding day, not the bride."

Both girls laughed at this and went up to their rooms. Layla put on a knee length, sleeveless, pale green dress, the same shade of green as the lighter shade of her Winx outfit. She also put a scarf around her waist, a deep shade of green with sparkles on it. At the top, there was a strap going across her right shoulder and two straps that crossed her heart and wrapped around her neck. Layla put on a pair of green heels and a little glitter next to her eyes.

She walked to a section of the palace that the wedding would be held in. She met the rest of the family there, ready to start the rehearsal. Even though it wasn't the actual ceremony, Layla couldn't help smiling through it. She was so happy for Ariel that she was able to forget how nervous she was about the discussion she was going to have with her parents.

They went through the ceremony and the rehearsal dinner without any problems. The dinner itself was delicious and Layla spoke to her cousin, introduced herself to the groom and the best man and had a good time, but all throughout the evening, Layla was wondering what her parents would say to her when she brought up the Jason subject.

After the rehearsal dinner was over and all the guests had left, Layla went to find her parents, but Queen Lyra actually found her first. Her father had already gone back to the throne room.

"Layla, do you want to talk to your father and I now?"

"Yes Mother," said Layla. She followed her mother back to the throne room and found her father there sitting on the throne, reading an important looking scroll. He looked up when they came in and smiled.

"Layla, dear, you look as radiant as the sea in the setting sun," he said.

"Thanks Dad," she said.

"I gather you wanted a word with us," he said. "What's it about?"

Layla took a deep breath and said, "I wanted to know why you don't want me to bring Jason home and introduce him. I was really looking forward to Ariel's wedding tomorrow because I had hoped he would be my escort and he was more than willing to be. But then you told me I couldn't bring him and then I had to break the bad news to him. You should have seen the look on his face, it was awful. I think he thinks I hurt him on purpose because I didn't want to be with him. So I think I deserve an explanation as to why you both won't meet him."

"She does have a point, Aquarius," said Queen Lyra. "It's time we told her."

King Aquarius just sighed and said, "Layla, I know you want to bring this boy of yours home, but this isn't the time."

"I don't understand," said Layla.

"We've found someone else for you," said her mother. "All we need is your word and we'll arrange a marriage for you. We thought we were doing the right thing, that you would love this boy more than Jason."

"What?" asked Layla, tears forming in her eyes. "Why would you do that?"

"Nezaro, Prince of Fergal has asked for your hand in marriage and we accepted his offer," said King Aquarius. "All we need to go through with this is your approval."

"You're not getting it," said Layla. "How could you do that to me?"

"What do you mean my dear?" asked Queen Lyra.

"I didn't think you two would enforce the tradition, even if we have it," said Layla, tears now streaming down her face. "I want the chance to find someone who really loves me and Jason does. I don't want to marry Nezaro. The few times I met him, it was easy for me to tell he was just a power-hungry tyrant. You can't force me to do this. I can't, I won't."

"You have no right to deny this marriage," said her father, starting to yell.

"I have every right," Layla yelled back. "I won't go through with this." She ran from the throne room and back to her bedroom, crying the entire way. She flopped down on her bed, and cried into her pillow. "I can't believe it," she said. "I just can't believe it."

Suddenly, there was a knock at her door and a voice said, "Layla, are you all right?" It was Ariel.

"Come in," said Layla. Ariel walked in and shut the door behind her. She walked over to her cousin's bed and sat down. She couldn't bear to see her upset like this. Layla wasn't the kind of girl that cried very often, which made it all the worse to see. Ariel couldn't stand people hurt and upset under normal circumstances, but seeing her own cousin like that was the worst sort of torture possible for her.

"I overheard what your parents said," said Ariel. "I'm so sorry Layla. I don't think I could go through with an arranged marriage. I wish I could help you, but I don't know what to do."

"What would you do in my position, Ariel?" asked Layla.

"I suppose I would run away," said Ariel. "I would go and stay with my friends. I know several people who would be more than willingly hide me away for a few days. How about, when you go swimming with your mermaid friends tomorrow, get some advice from them and choose a plan, although I suspect they'll agree with me."

Ariel stayed with Layla for most of the night, comforting her cousin as best she could. And together, they came up with a plan for Layla to escape. She only left after Layla had fallen asleep. She turned out the light and went to her own room, wondering if she could even have her wedding with Layla in this state.

**Author's Note:** All right, another chapter done. I don't know about you guys but if my parents set me up with an arranged marriage, I'd be running for the hills as quickly as possible. The next chapter is going to introduce our bad guy, which incidentally she's supposed to marry. I know the marriage thing is getting old, considering we had Tecna almost marry Paritho two stories ago. But I will go ahead and reassure you that it's not going to reach the wedding in this one. I think I've had my fill of evil weddings. But there's going to be a lot of running and there's going to be a little bit of action as she tries to escape back to Alfea in the next chapter. Stay tuned!


	4. Underwater Peril

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! All right, so last time, we found out that the reason Layla's parents didn't want her to bring Jason home was because they set up an arranged marriage for her. This is the chapter when she's going to come up with an escape plan, then execute it. If you want to find out if she actually does escape back to Alfea, read on!

**Chapter 4: Underwater Peril**

Layla woke up the next morning, her eyes still red and swollen from the previous night. She looked in the mirror and saw her face tear streaked, an expression she'd always hated as a girl, but she didn't really care at this particular moment. She also realized she was still wearing the dress she wore to the wedding rehearsal. She had been so distraught that she had fallen asleep in it.

"I never get that upset," she muttered to herself as she entered her bathroom and splashed cold water on her face to remove the tear streaks. "But finding out your parents have arranged a marriage for you will do that to you." She sighed and had to fight back the tears that were once again threatening to spill down her face.

She then remembered she was going swimming with the mermaids that morning. She had to tell them everything that had happened. She wasn't going to be able to keep this from them; Cyrene and Tressa had always been able to see right through her and would know something was wrong. She knew they would be willing to help her, but wondered if they would be able to. She then cleared all doubt from her mind, knowing they would be able to do it no matter what. She put on a pale green bathing suit, put a t-shirt on over it, and walked down to the beach. She walked through the palace quickly and quietly, not wanting to talk to anyone. Fortunately, she didn't meet anyone on her way to the beach. She left the palace and crossed down to the eastern shore. When she got there, she saw Cyrene there waiting for her.

"Princess Layla!" yelled Cyrene, waving at her. "Tressa and Olivia are waiting for us. Are you all right?" She saw Layla's red eyes and tear marks on her face; she hadn't done a very good job of washing her face off. "Have you been crying? That's not like you."

"Oh Cyrene, I'm in such trouble, wait until you hear this," said Layla. She muttered, "aquarias oxsisana," which was a spell to make her breath underwater and dived in. The cold, clear water felt wonderful against her tear-streaked face. It was as though when she entered the water, all her worries vanished, every care in the world she had was whisked away. She was back where she belonged. She and Cyrene swam a few feet and found their two closest mermaid friends, Olivia and Tressa, who was the princess of the mermaids. They swam for a little while, away from the palace and, at Layla's request, stopped calling her princess because it reminded her of what her parents were trying to make her do. She told them what her parents had told her and by the time she was finished, all three mermaids had their hands over their mouths.

Finally, Cyrene managed to pry her hand from her mouth and said, "Layla, that's awful. Why would your parents just find you a husband out of the blue? Don't they trust you to find someone on your own?"

"I was sure they did," said Layla. "But I guess I was wrong. I don't even want to think of how Jason will take it when I get back to Magix. He'll be devastated, probably even more than I am now. In fact, he already was devastated when I told him I couldn't bring him to Ariel's wedding, this will crush him even more."

"Isn't there anything we can do help you Layla?" asked Tressa.

"Ariel and I came up with a plan last night, but I need you three to help me execute it," said Layla. "I'm going to run away, and go back to Magix. Once I get there, I'll have to think of something else to do, so they won't follow me. I need you three to help me get back to Alfea."

"What can we do?" asked Olivia.

"I'm going to go through today as though nothing has happened. I'll get through the wedding, be my cousin's Maid of Honor and go to the reception with everyone else. Then after a little while, Ariel will create a diversion. I think she's going to make an announcement and I'll sneak out and come down here. I want you three to wait for me by the western shore of the palace. I'll transform so it'll be easier and quicker for me to get out of here. Then I want you three to swim me out far enough, so they won't be able to sense my casting the spell to get out of here. If everything goes well, no one will suspect a thing until after the reception."

"What about the elite mermaid guard?" asked Cyrene. "They'll be patrolling the water during and after the wedding."

"Leave that to me," said Tressa. "I have a few friends in the elite mermaid guard. Some of them have a shift after the wedding and I'm sure they'll help us. Don't worry Layla, we'll get you out of here."

"Thanks guys," said Layla, hugging the three mermaids.

Little did they know that someone had been listening to them. Layla's so-called fiancée, Prince Nezaro of Fergal, had seen her leave with the mermaids and being a warlock, had cast a spell so he could hear what they were saying.

"So the princess wants to escape," he said. "Well she's not going to. I'll let her leave the reception, lure her into a false sense of security and once she gets in the water, I'll get her. She'll think twice about messing with me. Maybe I should cast a spell on her to make her marry me, but that's been done too many times. That's what I hated about Paritho's plan. It just lacked the originality I think should come with all evil schemes. And besides, attacking her underwater and dragging her back into the palace will be much more fun. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she realizes she can't escape."

------------

When Layla got back to her room, she found her mother there waiting for her.

"My dear, I realize this is very difficult for you, but it's for the benefit of everyone if we united Tides and Fergal," said Queen Lyra.

"Everyone except me," said Layla.

"I know you love your boyfriend, but you have to let him go. I'm sorry."

"Can I ask you something Mom?" asked Layla.

"Of course dear."

"If you had been asked this when you were my age, and you were deeply in love with someone, would you have gone through with this marriage? What would you have done in my place?"

"It would have to depend on the circumstances," said Queen Lyra. "But I would have followed my heart, unless the marriage was something I could not get out of. And this Layla is something you cannot get out of."

"I can try," said Layla. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for Ariel's wedding. At least, she's getting to marry her true love or did you think that her personal feelings were more important than mine?"

"Layla!" said the queen sharply, but Layla was out of the room before her mother could say anything else. She spent the rest of the day being bathed and groomed for the wedding. She put on her bridesmaid's dress, a beautiful blue green gown that reached to the floor. It had a piece of silk across the waist as a belt and had long sleeves, with slits on the sides. The color of her dress reminded her of the plan she and Ariel had cooked up and how Cyrene, Tressa and Olivia were going to help her get back to her friends at Alfea. She walked downstairs and saw that the guests were already seated and they were waiting to begin the service.

"If everyone is ready, let's get started," said the friar. Layla put on a fake, yet convincing smile as she walked down the aisle with the Best Man and watched Ariel marry the love of her life. She was happy for her cousin, but at the same time was worried if something went wrong with the plan.

Despite her fears, she couldn't help but smile broadly when Ariel took her wedding vow and then kissed her groom. The ceremony ended and the entire congregation walked to the reception in the grand ballroom. Layla was asked to dance quite a few times and one time, she had no choice but to dance with Nezaro.

"From what I hear, you aren't too happy with this match," he told her.

"No, I'm not," she said.

"There's nothing you can do about it," said Nezaro. He gave her such a penetrating glare that she felt a little twinge of fear, one emotion she hated more than anything, second only to helplessness. He spun her once under his arm and asked her, "Do you understand me? There is nothing you can do."

Layla didn't reply, but instead pushed him away and walked away to get a piece of wedding cake. A little while later, she caught her cousin's gaze and saw Ariel wink at her. It was time to put their plan into action.

Ariel walked to a microphone a few feet away and said, "ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all for helping me and Chris celebrate the most joyous day of our lives." She started a small speech and with everyone focused on her, no one saw Layla slip out of the room. No one that is, except for Nezaro. He waited a few minutes to give her a decent head start and then slipped out after her.

Ariel had to stifle a gasp as she saw Nezaro leave after Layla. She faltered for a second, but continued with her speech as though nothing had happened, so as not to make anyone suspicious, but the instant she put the microphone down, she started for the door. But before she was even a quarter of the way there, she was stopped by a large group of people showering her with congratulations. She took them as gratefully as she could, but she desperately wanted to get out of there and see if Layla was all right.

"Curse you, Nezaro," she said silently. "If you touch Layla, I swear to God, I'll use every single curse and hex I can think of and get really witchy on you. I'll do things I'd normally never even considering doing if it means keeping my cousin safe. Please be careful, Layla."

Layla, however, remained unaware of the danger that was following her and walked quickly through the palace halls, blessing the rugs on the floor for they muffled the sound of her heels hitting the marble floors. She hurriedly left the palace and made her way down to the western shore. Cyrene, Tressa and Olivia were already down there, waiting for her. They had been talking in whispers for the last several minutes and each one jumped as they heard footsteps approaching. However, their faces broke into relieved smiles when they saw that it was just their friend.

"Layla," whispered Cyrene, "are you ready to go?"

"Just one second," said Layla. She quickly transformed, and said, "aquarias oxsisana," again and waded out into the water. She took a deep breath, which was out of habit now considering she could breathe underwater and completely submerged herself, loving the feeling of the water against her skin. She couldn't deny though that she was still very worried about how this plan may or may not turn out and whether or not they'd get caught, so she asked them, "What about the elite mermaid guard?"

"I talked to some of my friends in the guard," said Tressa. "We're going to swim you out a little ways, we can't go too far or else someone will get suspicious. We'll meet a couple mermaids in the guard in a few minutes and they'll take you out further. Cyrene will go the rest of the way with you too."

"Thanks guys," she said.

"Don't thank them just yet," said a voice. She turned around and gasped. Nezaro was swimming towards her. He also apparently knew a spell that would allow him to breathe underwater and he was expertly navigating the currents so that he would be able to catch up with her in just a minute or two. "Didn't I tell you there's nothing you can do to escape this engagement?" he asked her.

"You can't blame a girl for trying," said Layla. "Don't come any closer. I don't want to attack unless I have to."

"Then you'll have to attack, for I am not letting you get away," said Nezaro.

Layla used her magic to create a whirlpool and tried to trap Nezaro in it, but he, having magic of his own, swept it away with a wave of his hand. "Now what do I do?" Layla thought desperately. She frantically racked her brain, trying to come up with a plan on how to beat Nezaro and get back to Alfea. She knew once she got there, her friends would be able to help her, but getting back would be an issue.

"Now I think you should come with me," said Nezaro. "Or things will just be worse."

"I'm not going anywhere unless it's far away from you!" yelled Layla. Nezaro growled at her out of pure anger and frustration and waved his hands around in a complex manner. It only took Layla a second to realize what he was doing, but a second was too much time. An undertow was already beginning to form and it was aimed directly at her and her friends. She was able to negate it with a quick and easy spell, but she wasn't sure how long she'd be able to defend herself against him. One thing she knew for sure, she had to handle him on her own and make sure her mermaid friends got somewhere safe before they got hurt.

"You guys," she yelled to her mermaid friends. "Get out of here!"

"No!" Olivia yelled back to her. "We're not going anywhere!" Cyrene and Tressa nodded behind her.

"Leave them alone!" they heard someone else yell. Suddenly, a few blasts were fired at Nezaro, forcing him to drift back in the currents for a moment. Layla smiled with joy when she realized the elite mermaid guard had arrived.

"No one threatens our princess!" shouted one of them. "Attack!"

The mermaids fired several attacks at Nezaro, but he deflected them. One of the guards came swimming up to Layla and said, "come Princess, I'll take you out farther so you can get back to Alfea."

"Thank you Misty," said Layla. She, Misty and Cyrene swam for it, Tressa and Olivia staying behind to help the elite mermaid guard. The trio swam as fast and far as they could, but behind them, they could hear the mermaids shouting. Nezaro had broken through their ranks and was swimming after them. And being a wizard with more powerful magic and longer limbs, it would be the easiest thing in the world for him to reach her.

"What do we do if he catches up to us?" asked Cyrene nervously.

"We're almost to the point where no one above the surface of the water will sense any spells down here," said Misty. "Swim past that point, Layla, and you'll be safe. After that, Nezaro is bound to leave the water. I don't think he can travel through the ocean like someone from Tides can."

"We made it," said Layla, as she felt a sort of shiver run down her spine as she swam past the range of the palace. She swam out a little further and hugged Cyrene goodbye. "I'll see you soon Cyrene, when all this business is cleared up."

"Good luck Layla," said Cyrene.

"Princess Layla, go! He's coming!" yelled Misty. But in another second, both she and Cyrene had been swept away by a blast from Nezaro's hand.

"Crafty Layla, very crafty indeed," said Nezaro. "But I've grown tired of this little game of cat and mouse, haven't you? Just give up and I won't tell anyone that you tried to escape. Then we can have a nice, quiet wedding back in my realm and no one will be any the wiser."

"No way!" yelled Layla. "I refuse to marry anyone like you!"

"Why do you girls have to be so stubborn?" asked Nezaro angrily.

"It's just part of being a girl," said Layla. "Ocean Blast!" Her attacks automatically magnified in strength because she was underwater, but even with the power of her Charmix aiding her, it still wasn't enough. He sent one blast out of his hand, which knocked her out of her Winx form. She found it hard to swim now, for her dress was very heavy in the water. She was lucky even that she could still convert water into oxygen. She focused on the lake close to Alfea and found that Jason was sitting by it. "I have to get back to him," she thought. But she was very tired and knew that it would take all the strength she had left to cast a spell to get back to Magix.

"Are you ready to give up Layla?" asked Nezaro, starting to swim closer to her.

"Stay back!" she yelled.

"I don't think so," he said, but he suddenly stopped swimming. Misty was back and she had created a very strong rope. She was restraining Nezaro so Layla could escape.

"Princess Layla, get out of here! I can't hold him much longer!" she yelled. Seeing that Layla was about to protest, she continued, "Don't argue with me! There's no time, just go!"

Layla muttered under her breath, "transportus." The next instant, she felt the currents begin to swell around her, creating a portal that would carry her back to Alfea, back to Jason. Nezaro screamed in rage as he watched her disappear bit by bit, until finally, she was gone.

After a moment of deep concentration, Layla sensed the currents begin to die down and knew that she had left Tides and was deep in the lake close to Alfea. But her oxygen spell was wearing off and she knew she couldn't get back to the surface before it did; her dress was weighing her down too much. Her only hope was to get Jason to find her. She concentrated her magic to cast a spell that would let him hear her call.

"Please Jason, come and get me, hurry," she said, as she used the last of her oxygen. She passed out and started to sink to the bottom of the lake.

Jason meanwhile was thinking of Layla. The rest of the group had gone out for dinner but he wasn't very hungry. Besides, he hated going out with the guys when they all had their girlfriends with him and he didn't. He wondered why Layla's parents wouldn't want him in Tides with her, or if she had made that up after all. He sighed, but couldn't seem to shake the dreaded feeling that Layla didn't feel anything for him.

"Maybe I should head back to Red Fountain, it's getting late," he said. He stood up and started to walk away, when he stopped dead in his tracks. He thought he'd heard Layla's voice for a minute. "Maybe it was just my imagination, maybe I miss her too much," he thought. He was halfway back to his levabike, when he heard it again: a far off voice calling for help.

"Help me Jason, please help me," she said. He dashed back out and stood on the shoreline, looking out over the lake. He then saw something about halfway to the bottom of the lake. He couldn't tell what it was at first, but then recognized Layla's flowing hair and then saw she was sinking fast.

"Layla no!" he yelled. He ran onto a rock that jutted out into the lake and dived into its icy depths. He swam as fast as he could, worried that he might get there too late. Layla had already fainted from lack of oxygen and knew if he didn't get her to the surface, she wouldn't open her eyes again. He put on an extra spurt of speed and grabbed her hand. He pulled her into his arms and started to swim to the surface. He was starting to run out of oxygen too now. It was getting harder for him to swim, with Layla in his arms, no air and the water was so cold, he was starting to get numb. But he had to get there, he just had to. He kicked his legs furiously, water pouring into his mouth and lungs.

Suddenly, his head broke the surface of the water. He pulled Layla above the surface and took a few deep breaths, coughing up water as he went. He heard her coughing as well and knew she was getting the water out of her lungs. He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard her breathing, but she didn't open her eyes and look up at him. He swam to the shore and sat on the grass, holding Layla tightly, but not only didn't she acknowledge him, she still wouldn't awaken.

"Layla, Layla!" he yelled worriedly. She didn't wake up. She supposed it was because she was so tired after whatever it was she had just been through. He'd have to get the full story out of her in the morning. He could hear her breathing and could also see her shivering and knew that story time would definitely have to wait until then.

"I have to get her back to Alfea," he thought, starting to walk to the fairy school, carrying her in his arms. "The girls will be able to help. I just hope they're back from their date."

-----------

The girls had just gotten back from a romantic evening with their boyfriends. Since the guys weren't allowed in the girl's rooms, they stayed out in the quad to say goodnight. Each girl got either a kiss on the lips or on the cheek from her boyfriend and the guys waited until all the girls were safely inside the school before leaving for Red Fountain. The girls talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, chatting about the date and wondering what was happening on their realms at the moment.

"Musa, are you all right sweetie?" asked Flora. They all looked at Musa and saw she was leaning out over the balcony in Bloom and Flora's room, staring towards the lake.

"What is it Musa?" asked Bloom, coming out to stand next to her.

"I don't know," said Musa. "I just get this really bad feeling that Layla's in trouble and needs our help."

"If she needed help, she would have called wouldn't she?" asked Nirvana. "I mean, she has all our cell phone numbers."

"I know," said Musa. "But something just doesn't feel right."

"Do you mean like a nagging tug at your heart that's bugging you so much you can't think of anything else?" asked Guinevere.

"Yeah, how did you know?" asked Musa, turning away from the balcony to face her friend.

"Because I've been getting that feeling a lot lately," replied Guinevere. "But I haven't for a couple weeks, not since the last adventure. Come to think of it, I've gotten it every time a new adventure starts."

"Does that mean Layla's next?" asked Stella. Tecna was about to reply, when there was a loud gasp. Musa had turned back to the balcony for a moment and it took all her self control to gasp and not to scream. Jason was walking across the quad, carrying an unconscious Layla in his arms. Musa ran down to the quad as fast as she could, all the girls following close behind wanting to know what the problem was. When they saw Layla, they all immediately began fussing over her and trying to get her to wake up.

"What happened to her?" asked Tecna.

"There's no time to explain," said Jason. "Can one of you girls cast a spell and warm her up? I found her in the lake close by and the water was freezing."

"No problem," said Stella. "Dryus aquesas." In a minute, both Layla and Jason were completely dried off and starting to warm up. Jason let out a small, contented sigh as he felt the water evaporate from his body.

"Jason, what happened?" asked Nirvana.

"I was sitting out by the lake and I heard her voice inside my head, calling for help," he replied. "I thought it was just my imagination but then I heard it again. Then I saw her in the water about halfway down, so I dived in after her and pulled her back up to the surface."

"Thank you so much Jason," said Guinevere.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of her," said Bloom. "We'll take her upstairs, make sure she's all right and then first thing in the morning, you and the boys come over and we'll find out what this is all about.

"All right," said Jason reluctantly. He wanted to stay with her the whole night, but he knew he couldn't do that. He just watched as the girls walked back inside the building, Musa and Tecna supporting Layla in between them. He headed back for Red Fountain, unable to get the image of her drifting to the bottom of the lake out of his head.

The girls got her back to her and Guinevere's room after a minute and laid her down in bed. Stella cast a small spell that changed Layla into her nightgown, knowing it would be uncomfortable to sleep in her bridesmaid's gown.

"Poor thing, I hope she's all right," said Flora.

"Have faith Flora, she's fine," said Nirvana, the paragon of faith.

The girls each went to bed worried and afraid, but all able to fall asleep quickly. What they didn't know was that after they'd gone to bed, a smile had appeared on Layla's face.

"Thank you Jason," she said silently before drifting off to sleep.

**Author's Note:** All right, another chapter done. So we have our bad guy introduced and Layla is safe at Alfea, but how long is that going to last? The next chapter is going to have her and the girls make more arrangements to keep her safe. You won't believe the plan they come up with. Stay tuned!


	5. Arrangements for Hiding

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! All right, so last time, we had Layla successfully escape from Nezaro after an aquatic confrontation. This chapter is going to have her and the rest of the girls plus the guys try and think up a place for her to hide. I'll bet you'll never guess what they'll come up with.

Let me also make a little remark first. My last chapter only got two reviews. I realize it's only been three days, but I usually get way more response from readers on the Quest for Power Series than this. So if you read this chapter, please leave a review. Thanks guys. Happy reading!

**Chapter 5: Arrangements for Hiding**

On Sunday morning, all the girls, except Layla, were up bright and early. They went into her and Guinevere's room and sat quietly waiting for her to wake up. While they waited, they chatted quietly about how Jason had come in carrying Layla and wondering how she had gotten to be at the bottom of the lake like that. Fortunately, they didn't have long to wait. She began to stir about twenty minutes after they'd all gathered.

"Layla," said Bloom. "Layla, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open and she said, "where am I?"

"In our room at Alfea," said Guinevere. "What's going on? What happened?"

Layla sat up and it all came flooding back to her. Everything that had happened the previous night and her fears of what her parents might do to her.

"Oh my gosh, you guys I have to leave immediately," she said. "If I know my parents, they'll already have sent someone out looking for me. Who knows how long it'll be before they get here."

"Whoa, Layla calm down and tell us what's going on," said Musa.

"All right, but it's a long story and I don't know how much time I have to explain," she said.

"The boys are on their way here, is there enough time to wait so we can clue them in?" asked Flora, who had just gotten off the phone with Helia.

"I don't know," said Layla. "I hope there is, considering Jason's going to want an explanation as to why I was in the lake last night."

"We want an explanation as to why you were in the lake last night," said Stella. "You almost drowned and you almost ruined that gorgeous dress you were wearing. It's a good thing I was able to dry you off, otherwise the water would have done some huge damage on the fabric."

"Stella," said Bloom with a groan. "I don't think her dress was in any danger of being damaged. Besides, it's her we should be worried about, not a stupid article of clothing."

Layla looked down at herself and saw that she wasn't wearing her bridesmaid's gown anymore and was wearing her usual nightgown. One of the girls must have changed her the previous night. She went into the bathroom to wash up and change her clothes and by the time she was done, the boys had arrived. They were waiting down in the quad for the girls.

"Do you think it's all right to go out and talk in the garden?" asked Nirvana.

"It might be," said Layla. "Just as long as we put protection spells and shield spells and stuff like that around us." The girls all exchanged shocked glances. Layla was never this nervous, nor this paranoid about putting up protection spells. Whatever had happened must have been shocking and dangerous for her to be acting so unlike herself. They all walked down to the quad together and when they got there, Layla immediately found herself enveloped in Jason's arms.

"Layla, thank goodness," he said, his voice muffled because his face was pressed against her shoulder. "I was worried sick about you last night. It's good to see you on your feet."

"I'm all right, Jason," she said, taking a step back from him. "Really I am."

"Jason explained what happened to us last night," said Timmy. The boys had also explained to Andrew and Carlos about the danger the girls had been in recently and what was still to come. Carlos had been particularly upset to learn that the trouble hadn't ended when Paritho was defeated. Timmy continued by asking, "What's going on, Layla?"

"Come on, let's go in the garden and talk," said Layla. They all walked down the familiar path to the garden, chose a secluded little clearing where they could talk privately, the girls putting up protection spells and they began to listen to Layla's story.

"When I got back to Tides two nights ago, everything seemed fine. I saw my cousin Ariel, got through the rehearsal dinner and after that, things went downhill."

"That's when you talked to your parents to find out why they wouldn't let you take Jason to the wedding?" asked Tecna.

"Yeah," said Layla. "They gave me a reason all right, just not one I was expecting."

"You mean you were serious?" asked Jason. "You wanted to take me to that wedding with you?"

"More than anything else," she told him.

"See Jason," said Helia. "We told you you were overreacting."

"What did your parents say to you Layla?" asked Sky.

"You won't like it," said Layla, staring at Jason, a scared look in her eyes.

"Whatever it is, it can't be that bad," said Nirvana.

"Ask Guinevere," said Layla. "She guessed it before I left."

"What are you talking…" began Guinevere, but her voice trailed off as comprehension dawned on her face. She remembered what she had said to Layla when they were alone in their room and Layla was packing her suitcase to leave. Stuttering slightly, she said, "oh lord, I was right? I wasn't even being serious and you're telling me I was right?"

"Right about what?" asked Andrew.

"That my parents set me up with an arranged marriage," said Layla, tears starting to form in her eyes again.

"What?" said everyone except Layla and Guinevere.

"They said they've already agreed to it and needed my approval to start planning, but I said no. But they are so stubborn, they'll force me down that aisle, kicking and screaming if they have to. Then Ariel helped me come up with a plan to get out of Tides for a little while. I'm telling you it won't be long before some royal scouts get here."

"It's all right," said Tecna, checking her computer. "They aren't here yet and I've set my computer to go off when they enter the realm."

"So, what was the escape plan?" asked Riven.

"I was going to go through that day as though nothing had happened, then I'd escape after Ariel's wedding. During the reception, she made an announcement, so I could sneak out without anyone noticing. The palace is surrounded by water on three sides so I knew if I could get out to sea far enough, I could reach a point, where they wouldn't be able to sense any spells I cast. I went down to the western shore where I'd agreed to meet some mermaid friends of mine. You know, some backup in case something went wrong."

"And something did go wrong?" asked Helia.

"Naturally," replied Layla. "I transformed and we started swimming away but before we could get very far, Nezaro attacked. He's the Prince of Fergal, and the guy I'm supposed to be marrying. Why Mom and Dad set me up with him, I don't know. He's a total creep. But, anyway he started attacking us underwater. And he deflected my attacks with a wave of his hand."

"But your attacks are supposed to be stronger underwater," said Bloom.

"I know, so you can imagine how scared I was," said Layla. "I swam as fast as I could, with the elite mermaid guard trying to hold Nezaro off. I managed to reach the point where I could cast the spell to get back here but he caught up with me and knocked me out of my Winx form. Luckily, one of the mermaids managed to restrain him and I used a transportation spell which got me back in the lake. I could sense Jason was out there so I called out to him and thank goodness he heard. The last thing I remember is my oxygen spell wearing off and passing out."

"The question now is what are we going to do?" asked Nirvana. "I mean, you're right. Eventually your parents will search for you here and you did say before you left that you'd rather doom yourself to eternal torment from the witches before agreeing to an arranged marriage."

"Where are Icy, Darcy and Stormy when I need them?" asked Layla sarcastically.

"Layla, that's not funny," said Jason.

Suddenly, a shiver ran down Layla's spine as she felt the presence of guards from Tides enter the realm. A second later, Tecna's computer made a funny beeping noise, which wasn't necessary any longer to alert Layla of danger any longer.

Tecna pulled out her computer and said, "oh no, they're here. What do we do now?"

"Is there someplace we could hide out until we can think of a plan?" asked Guinevere.

"If there is, we have to get there and fast," said Helia. "Once they find out you girls aren't in your rooms, they'll come looking out here."

"If we can get out of here, we might be able to sneak back to Red Fountain," said Sky.

"But how can we get to the levabikes without them seeing us?" asked Carlos.

"We can't," said Brandon, peaking out from behind the trees that were shading them from view. "They're already heading this way. They'll be on us in just a few minutes and considering they're headed straight for us, it looks like someone told them we were out here."

"Ms. Griffin probably, she wouldn't know not to," said Stella, keeping a tight, fearful grip on Brandon's arm.

"Layla, hold still," said Nirvana. "I'm going to cast a spell on you that will make you invisible to the scout's eyes, but visible to the rest of us. All you have to do is hold still and don't speak until I tell you to, otherwise the whole thing will be ruined." Layla just nodded so Nirvana waved her right hand in a circle and said, "visibeles particularis." Layla felt another shiver run down her spine, as though the air had suddenly turned cold. Apart from that, she didn't feel any different, but she knew better than to ask Nirvana if the spell had worked.

"Everyone, whatever you do, don't look at Layla or they'll know she's here," said Nirvana. There was no more time for them to converse because the guards appeared in the grove of trees at that moment, bearing the royal emblem of Tides, and all of them looking as stern and grumpy as guards could get.

"Can we help you with something?" asked Bloom politely.

"We have reason to believe Princess Layla of Tides came here last night," said one of the scouts. "Where is she?"

"She's not here," said Flora. "What makes you think she left Tides?"

"She hasn't been seen since her cousin's wedding reception last night," said the scout. "And after a thorough search, it's obvious she's not on Tides. This is the only place she could have come."

"Well, she's not here," said Nirvana. "We haven't heard from her since she left on Friday. Come to think of it, it's weird that she didn't call. I thought for sure she would."

"So did I," said Musa. "She promised she'd call but I guess she had other things to do. Maybe she forgot."

"Our princess is more responsible than that," yelled the scout. "She doesn't just forget anything and if you were her friend you'd know that. Now tell us where she is!"

"Hey calm down!" said Riven, angry that they'd dared yell at Musa. He stood in front of her and said, "what part of 'Layla isn't here' don't you guys understand?"

"Yeah, if she'd come last night, we'd have seen her or heard her," said Guinevere.

"Where else could she possibly be then?" asked another of the guards.

"Obviously she doesn't want to be found," said Tecna. "That's very unlike her, but if she doesn't want anyone to find her, then I think we should respect her wishes and leave her alone."

"So you're not going to do anything about it?" asked the first one, raising an eyebrow at them.

"We didn't say that," said Jason sharply. "If she doesn't contact us within the next day or so, then we'll go out and look for her. But if she hasn't told me or the girls where she is, then that means she's hiding for reasons of her own and you won't find her." The last part was said with such conviction that it almost gave them away. The guard looked at him suspiciously before deciding that Layla wasn't hiding in the clearing and leading his companion away from the group.

Nirvana waited several minutes to ascertain that they were gone, then said, "all right Layla, it's safe."

Layla let out a deep sigh of relief and said, "thanks Nirvana. That was close."

"What do we do now?" asked Bloom.

"We come up with a plan to keep Layla safe, then start keeping a lookout for those thugs," said Sky. "They didn't believe us, it was obvious. So, they're going to be watching us like hawks."

Tecna did a quick scan with her computer and said, "they're nowhere close to us now, meaning we can speak freely about our plans. They must have gone to search for Layla someplace else. I wonder where they went after they got through with us."

"Who cares as long as it's far away from here," said Riven.

"I always heard Tides was a hospitable realm," said Nirvana. "Those guys were terrible, it was as though they didn't have any goodness in them."

"That's because, they weren't from Tides," said Layla. "They had the royal seal on them, but I know every single guard both on land and in the water and I've never laid eyes on either of them before. They were Nezaro's goons, sentries from the Realm of Fergal."

"What are we going to do about that guy?" asked Guinevere.

"I don't know," said Layla. "Guys, I honestly think I should leave."

"Why?" asked Musa.

"Because Nezaro knows if I'm not on Tides, I'm somewhere in Magix and he won't rest until he finds me," replied Layla. "He's dangerous, the way he just absorbed my attacks, he can take on anyone and win."

"We'll just see about that," said Jason.

"No Jason," said Layla. "I'm going someplace safe. Somewhere I can hide for awhile until I can find out what's going on. I don't have the power to fight Nezaro, not yet. And until I get it, I'm not gonna be able to defeat him."

"Maybe that's why he tried to set up an arranged marriage," said Bloom. "He wants your powers. I'll bet anything he spelled your parents to make them agree with him."

"You're probably right Bloom," said Layla. "Because whenever Nezaro came to Tides, my parents went to great lengths to keep him away from me."

"Wait, you mean he's been to Tides before?" asked Andrew.

"Yeah," replied Layla. "Tides is the only realm that has diplomatic relations with Fergal, though my father's tried to sever them many times. That's what's got me so worried. When I was younger, my parents took pains to make sure I was never left alone with Nezaro and I had to have an armed escort at all times until he and his father left Tides. I wondered why, but all they'd say is that I was too young, I wouldn't understand. When I asked them why we'd never been to Fergal, Dad forbade me from asking him that again. He said there were reasons of his own that he didn't want us going to Fergal."

"But the question now is, where are we going to hide you?" asked Guinevere. "It's not safe at Alfea. Are there any other places in Magix where you'll be safe?"

"There are dozens of caves and underground tunnels," suggested Brandon.

"And a secret room behind the waterfall next to the lake," said Sky.

"Places like that, I doubt I'll be safe for very long," said Layla. "Nezaro has resources and connections to just about everything. He'll have maps of everything in Magix, and he'll have his goons patrol every single inch of land in, around and under the realm. They'll even explore the caves."

"There's one place the scouts will never think to look for you," said Tecna.

"Where?" said everyone together.

"Cloud Tower," said Tecna, simply.

There was a moment of silence when everyone just stared dumbfounded at Tecna, then the silence was broken with Stella jumping and shouting at her friend.

"Are you crazy?" she yelled. "She can't hide at Cloud Tower! Even if we get Ms. F. and Ms. Griffin to agree to it, the witches there will be furious! You saw them when we had to take classes there for a week. I'm still getting nightmares from that."

"Stella's right, who knows what they'll do?" said Bloom. "Last time, they put a catfight spell on us. I don't even want to think about what'd happen if any of us show up there again."

"But on the other hand, a witch's school is the last place anyone would look for a fairy," said Flora.

"What do you think Layla?" asked Musa.

"I think it's a great idea," said Layla.

"What?" they all said together.

"You honestly think it'll help things if you go and hide out at Cloud Tower?" asked Jason.

"At least until Nezaro's cronies leave," said Layla. "Eventually, they'll have to think I'm hiding in another realm, so they'll go and search for me someplace else. Hopefully, they'll think I'm still on Tides and Ariel found someplace there to hide me."

"But they might not leave, they might stick around for weeks," said Guinevere.

"And what happens if Icy, Darcy and Stormy show up?" asked Nirvana.

"I hadn't thought of that," said Layla. "I'd probably better not use any magic until it's safe to come out of hiding. If I do, I have a feeling Nezaro will be knocking at my door."

"You have to admit though, no fairy would go to Cloud Tower unless she absolutely had to, making it a great place to hide out for a little while," said Tecna.

"I don't know Tecna," said Timmy. "It still sounds pretty risky to me."

"Do you have any other suggestions?" she asked him. He just kept silent. "That's what I thought," she said.

"Then it's decided," said Layla. "Let's talk to Ms. Faragonda and Professor Griffin and arrange for me to stay at Cloud Tower for a couple days."

"Any chance we can get back to the school entrance without the goon patrol spotting us?" asked Musa.

"No problem, I'll cast a quick transportation spell, with a cloaking spell on top of it," said Nirvana. "They won't sense you traveling with us Layla. They won't even know we cast the spell." Seeing the apprehensive look on her face, she said, "relax. I've done this spell dozens of times. I promise you it works."

"Okay," said Layla. "You guys had better go back to Red Fountain. We'll tell you guys if something develops."

"Are you sure, Layla?" asked Jason. She nodded. The girls all said goodbye to their boyfriends and stood together in a small group.

Nirvana raised her hands and said, "lenatsa transporta closecka bardena." The girls suddenly felt the world spinning, everything became blurry and unfocused.

"How do we get off this thing?" asked Guinevere.

"Yeah, my hair's getting messed up!" yelled Stella.

"Pipe down!" yelled Nirvana. "I'm trying to concentrate and get us back in Ms. Faragonda's office. If you break my concentration field, not only will we not get back to Alfea, but there's no telling where we'll end up. We could land right in those scout's arms." The girls all kept quiet and after another minute, they landed right back in the headmistress' office.

"Girls," she said. "What's the matter? What are you doing here? Is everything all right?"

"We need your help Ms. Faragonda," said Bloom. The girls quickly explained the situation and how they wanted Layla to stay at Cloud Tower for a few days. When they got done, none of them liked the look on Ms. Faragonda's face. It was a very pensive look, as though she wanted to help them, but didn't know if their idea was one that would work.

"So you want Layla to stay at Cloud Tower until this man Nezaro sends his men away to look someplace else?" asked Ms. Faragonda. The girls nodded. The headmistress looked at them and said, "What happens if they don't leave? You might not be safe here, but I doubt you'll be much safer there. They might still find you, if they look hard enough."

"They won't find me there," said Layla. "It's a witch's school. The last place one would look for a fairy is at a witch's school."

"Point taken," said the headmistress. "But there might be opposition at Cloud Tower. Surely you girls realize that."

"The witches won't have to know," said Tecna. "The only one who can be in on it is Professor Griffin. She can find someplace for Layla to hide there and no one else at Cloud Tower will be any the wiser."

"Are you sure about that?" asked a voice from the corner. All the girls jumped, but breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Professor Griffin walking out of the shadows. "My witches are very clever, it would be hard to hide a fairy staying at my school for a few days."

"Can you cast a spell so that no one will find out?" asked Bloom.

"Not without the rest of the staff knowing," said Ms. Griffin. "But I can persuade them to leave you alone if I have to. Are you sure you want to do this?" The girls nodded again. "All right then. I heard the entire story, so I know some spells that will keep this Nezaro from finding you. You'll be allowed to stay at Cloud Tower for three days, and if his men aren't gone by then, I'm not sure I can justify you being there longer."

"You mean, you're just going to toss me out if they stay longer?" asked Layla.

"I'll send you back to Alfea if they stay longer," replied Professor Griffin. "You girls will have to think of something else to do. But in the meantime, you'll have three days and not a second more."

"Thank you Ms. Griffin," said Layla.

"Go back to your room, get some clothes and anything else you need," said the head witch. "Then come right back here and I'll take you to Cloud Tower. I have an empty dorm room you can stay in for those three days." Layla did as she said and was back in ten minutes.

"I'll see you soon girls," she said. "Tell Jason, everything's all right."

She hugged her friends and went to stand beside Professor Griffin. She raised her hands, and said, "transportus andacus." In a moment, they were standing in the hallways of Cloud Tower.

"There are classes in session right now. No one knows we're here." They walked through the halls and came to a room in the middle of one hallway. Professor Griffin opened the door and said, "welcome to your new home for the next three days." It was a very gloomy room. There were no pictures, a small window on the far wall, a bed in one corner and a dresser opposite it. There was also a bookshelf under the window, so she would at least have something to do while she was there. There was a door across the room, which led to the bathroom.

"Now," continued the head witch. "There are some rules you must abide by while you're here. "One, you are not to leave this room, no matter what. I'm going to cast some spells on this room, so no one will know you're in here. If you leave, that spell will be broken, and everyone in the school will know where to find you. Two, you're not to use any magic. That will break the spell too. Food will be sent here three times a day until you leave. Do you understand?"

"I do," said Layla simply.

"Good, enjoy your stay," said Professor Griffin. She laughed at this, but Layla didn't. She lied down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She wondered if this plan was going to work as she hoped it would, though she knew better than to just hope and pray that it would. But no matter how much she prepared herself by thinking that something could go wrong, she had no idea just how wrong things were going to go.

**Author's Note:** All right, so we have Layla staying at Cloud Tower for three days. I'll go ahead and tell you, she isn't going to last the full three days. Now where would the fun be in that? So how many of you guessed that she was going to go to Cloud Tower to hide? I can't wait to find out how many did and didn't get it when you leave reviews *hint hint*. All right, now you guys **won't** want to miss this next chapter, because it's going to explain everythingand I do mean _**everything!**_ Everything that's happened so far in the series is going to come together to explain exactly what's happening to the girls and why so many bad things are happening to them, which makes it by far the most important chapter in the entire series. And it's all coming up next! Stay tuned!


	6. The Witch's Tale

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! All right, so last time, we had the girls decide to hide Layla at Cloud Tower for a little while and Professor Griffin agreed to keep her for three days. Well, I already told you she wouldn't last three days. She doesn't even make it through Day 1. This chapter is it! The big one, the one we've all been waiting for! This is the most pivotal chapter in the entire Quest for Power Series. Please leave a review and tell me what you think afterwards. Happy reading!

**Chapter 6: The Witch's Tale**

Layla didn't sleep well that night. She kept tossing and turning in her bed, having dreams of Nezaro finding her, dragging her back to Fergal and marrying her there. She was walking down the aisle against her will. She could feel a spell on her, forcing her to do it, though she didn't want to, and she knew it wasn't the right thing. And worst of all, he was making her friends watch the ceremony. They were watching with sad looks on their faces, powerless to stop it and poor Jason, he wasn't even looking at her. He was staring at the floor, not bringing himself to raise his eyes to look at her. He wanted to stop it, but knew he couldn't. He had given up hope completely. Then it was time for the kiss and as Nezaro was leaning in, Layla jerked awake.

She almost screamed, but all she did was give a small cry of alarm. She looked at her clock and saw that it was 3:00 a.m. She started to cry into her pillow, afraid that the dream would become a reality and she would eventually be forced to marry Nezaro. The idea scared her, never seeing any of her friends or Jason again. She wondered why Nezaro would want to marry her anyway and how he had convinced her parents to agree to it. He must have spelled them, that was the only explanation. She kept having these thoughts until she got so tired from crying, that she went back to sleep.

When she woke up later that morning, she found a breakfast tray at the foot of her bed. She took off the lid and saw a few pieces of bacon and three biscuits on the tray. She tried to eat, but she could barely swallow, thoughts of the dream still flying through her mind.

"I hope this doesn't last much longer," she said. "I couldn't bear it if I had to be with anyone but Jason." She looked at the books on her bookshelf and saw they were all full of dark magic and records of several dark families. She pulled one book off the shelf and started flipping through it. She stopped when she came to one page and as she read through it, comprehension dawned on her face.

"So that's what's going on," she thought to herself. "It's all starting to make sense. Quickly she pulled out her journal, now very glad she'd thought to bring along, and began to transcribe the relevant passages into it. She kept flipping through the book and as she turned the pages, more things began to fall into place. On one of the pages, she found family trees of several dark wizards, both in the past and in the present and Nezaro's family was among them. When she saw the Realm of Fergal listed as a dark realm, she was shocked at first, but then realized it was obvious. Everything started to come together in her mind's eye.

"So that explains why I've never been to Fergal," she thought. "If it's a dark realm, no wonder Mom and Did didn't want me there. They wanted to protect me from an evil influence. So why did they accept Nezaro's proposal to marry me? Answer: they wouldn't, unless he put a spell on them so they'd have to do it. He wants my powers, that's why he's doing all this."

She read further and found a family tree with his name on it. She traced back his heritage and saw that he was descended from a long line of dark wizards.

"I've heard of all these guys," said Layla. "They've all attempted to control all the realms. That's apparently where Nezaro got his bad attitude. But, wait a minute…what's this?" She gasped when she recognized a few of the names that were on the sheet and again when she recognized the name they all traced back to. In fact, every single family tree traced back to this one name, a name she'd hoped she'd never hear outside of history classes. She started to cast a spell that would copy the family tree into her journal, then remembered she couldn't do magic, so she quickly began copying the genealogy tables by hand, which was long and tedious, but worth the effort.

Layla finished copying the relevant passages from the book into her journal and placed the book back on the shelf. There weren't very many books on the bookshelf, so she grabbed them all, quickly read through them and copied the relevant passages from them into her journal. She then read through her journal again and wrote more into it, connections and links starting to form inside her head.

"I think I'm starting to figure out what's been going on," she said. "This also explains what Nirvana told us while Musa was under Rancor's control, about how Paritho came to visit him." She wrote down all these thoughts in her journal, before she could forget them. Suddenly, she felt a chill run down her spine, and she knew at once what that feeling meant.

"I'm not alone," she thought to herself. "Something's coming, coming for me. And it's not Jason or my friends either." She hurriedly walked back to the bookshelf and set the journal on it. She knew that if she managed to escape the evil, she could show it to her friends, and knew if she were captured, at least one of her friends would go through the room.

Suddenly, she felt a cold blast of air flow through the room, a frigid blast that paralyzed her entire body for a few moments. "I seriously hope that wasn't what I think it was," she said.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" came a voice from somewhere around her.

"A little pixie, all alone and scared," said another voice.

"There's nothing I love more than a scared pixie," said a third voice.

Layla recognized those three voices instantly. It was Icy, Darcy and Stormy. "What are you three doing here?" she asked, as the three witches appeared in front of her.

"We thought we'd stop in and see how you were doing, pay one of our least favorite fairies a little visit," said Icy. "And maybe capture you for our friend Nezaro while we're here."

"You know he misses you," said Darcy. "He's been wondering where you are."

"I gotta admit, it was a crafty idea trying to hide out here," said Stormy. "I'd have never thought you or any of your other pixie friends would ever come here if it wasn't on a mission."

"How did you find me?" asked Layla.

"Well, we knew you were in Magix somewhere and that you couldn't be in any other realm," said Darcy.

"So, after letting Nezaro's dumb scouts search over every inch of land in, around and under this realm, we had to figure out where the only other hiding place was," said Icy. "This was the only place they didn't look, so it was kinda obvious you were here."

"So are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" asked Stormy. Layla didn't know what to say to that. If she transformed Nezaro would come and take her away, but if she didn't fight the witches, they would capture her too. She backed up against the wall, her hand behind her back and using a small, undetectable spell, typed a text message to Jason's phone, calling for help. Now all she had to do was stall the witches long enough for her friends to arrive. But that, like all other things, was easier said than done.

"What makes you think I'll just leave with you?" asked Layla.

"Because if you don't, all I have to do is walk up to your little boyfriend, cast a simple spell and he'll be gone," said Darcy. "I know almost every dark spell there is to know, I can get rid of him at the drop of a hat."

"You wouldn't, you couldn't," gasped Layla.

"I can and I will," said Darcy.

Layla was getting very angry now, and was not going to let the witches go anywhere near Jason or their friends. She didn't care if Nezaro found her, she just wanted to teach those witches a lesson. She transformed and started attacking the witches with everything she had.

"Ocean Blast!" she yelled, sending one of her stronger wave attacks to them.

"Is that the best you can do?" asked Stormy, laughing as she dodged it. "Cyclone!"

In that small room, there was no way Layla could defend herself against the cyclone that was spinning at her. She found herself caught up in the currents of wind, pummeling her from all sides. She was buffeted this way and that and she couldn't get her wings to work properly and fly herself out. The twister sent her colliding into the wall and she landed on the ground with a thud. But that didn't stop her from getting back up.

"Why do you annoying little pixies always have to be so darn persistent?" asked Icy.

"It's what we do," said Layla. "And for the hundred thousandth time, we're fairies!"

"Could've fooled me," said Darcy. "Optical Darkness!"

"Ice Crystal Barrage!" said Icy. Layla was about to dodge the darkness attack, but the ice crystals hit her with such force that she was sent flying against the window. The glass shattered under her weight and she flew right through it, landing hard on the ground outside Cloud Tower.

"You don't honestly think you can win do you?" asked Icy, flying up to her.

"As long as I still have hope, I can win," said Layla.

"One or two more attacks and a transportation spell right into Nezaro's arms and you'll be whistling a different tune," said Stormy. "There is no hope, when will you pixies realize that?"

"Probably when you give up trying to attack us," said a voice. Layla turned around and smiled as she saw Jason running towards her, the rest of the Winx Club and the heroes behind him. Jason jumped in front of her, acting as a shield between her and the witches.

"Leave her alone!" he said commandingly.

"You losers always know when to spoil a perfectly evil moment don't you?" asked Darcy angrily.

"Let's cut the chit-chat and kick their buts!" said Stormy. "Psycho Cyclone!"

"Sound Blast!" yelled Musa.

The girls all fired their strongest attacks at the witches and surprisingly enough, they retreated. The girls went to stand with their boyfriends, none of them powering down their Winx. They each had a bad feeling something was wrong.

"Why do I get the feeling we've walked into a trap?" asked Musa.

"Because the witches gave up way too easily," replied Sky.

"They never retreat just like that, unless there's some ulterior motive for the attack," said Tecna.

"Why do you think they…" began Jason, but he stopped and gasped, seeing something flying towards them. "Layla, look out!" he yelled pushing her out of the way of a large net. It landed right at her feet and disappeared.

"Oh no!" she said. "That's the trap! They wanted to lure me out so Nezaro could find me!"

"And it worked," said a voice above them. She looked up and saw Nezaro flying towards them. The look on his face showed anger beyond belief. "I knew you were here somewhere Layla, and I can't believe my scouts didn't think to look for you at a witch's school. If you think you get away from me again, you're wrong. You can't escape me that easily."

"I can try!" she yelled and fired an attack at him, but he deflected it.

"It'll take more than that!" he yelled.

"Fortunately, we've got more!" yelled Bloom. The girls surrounded him and each fired their strongest attacks, the ones with their full power, unleashing it all. A large ball of energy formed around him and for a moment, they thought they'd beaten him. But the energy ball suddenly condensed and within a few minutes Nezaro had absorbed every last bit of it.

"No way!" said Guinevere.

"We didn't even make a dent!" said Nirvana in disbelief.

"What's it gonna take to beat him?" asked Stella.

Nezaro laughed and said, "you call that power? Try and handle this! Dark Obliteration!"

The attack was similar to one of Darcy's attacks. The area was covered in darkness, inhibiting everyone's sight and completely disorienting them all. There was no sense of where anyone or anything was, leaving them at Nezaro's mercy.

"This isn't good," Layla muttered to herself.

"Oh but it is," said a voice from behind her. "For me at least."

Layla gasped but it was too late to do anything about it. Before she knew what was happening, Nezaro had grabbed her by the elbow and half a second later, she felt the wind blowing around her, which she recognized as a transportation spell.

"No!" she shouted over the roaring wind, but there was nothing she could do. "I have to fight this!"

"But you can't!" she heard him say.

The next instant, she found herself standing outside the palace in his home realm of Fergal. For the first time, she was able to get a good look at the realm and she hated what she saw.

"No wonder my parents never wanted me here," she thought to herself. The entire place was dark, no sun, no stars, no moon, and there just seemed to be an evil aura emanating from every single square inch of territory. The buildings were decrepit and falling apart, the people all had looks of hostility on their faces and the palace was a large black castle, with a wrought iron gate and many guards all over the place.

"Why is it that all evil realms seem to look the same?" she asked herself, remembering Rampara and Angelicas before she and the rest of the Winx Club had freed them. She suddenly felt her heart start aching and she couldn't figure out what was causing it.

She let out a gasp of pain as she felt Nezaro's fingernails digging into her arm. He then twisted her arms behind her back and held her wrists with one hand, while wrapping the other arm around her waist. She grimaced as he did this. Just in being in this close proximity to him, she could feel dark magic pulsing through his veins and soon realized that he was putting a spell on her. She tried to struggle and get away from it, but she soon realized with a jolt that she couldn't move.

"What's happening here?" she asked.

"You can't move unless I want you to," replied Nezaro. "Nor can you use your powers for the moment. Now walk."

Layla looked down at her clothes and saw that she had transformed back into her regular outfit. She got the terrible impression that her Winx wouldn't be able to regenerate for hours; in fact in this realm, they probably wouldn't at all. She was so busy worrying over this that she almost didn't catch what Nezaro was saying to her as he forced her towards the palace.

"Welcome home," he said. "For this time tomorrow, this will be your new home."

"Tomorrow?" she asked fearfully, hoping against hope she'd heard that wrong.

"Yes," he said. "Tonight's our wedding and tomorrow, Fergal will be your home."

"No," she whispered, tears starting to well up inside her eyes.

"Yes," he said. "Once we get inside the palace, you won't be allowed to leave it. You must remain inside at all times. If you leave, I'll know and you don't want to know what I'll do to you if I catch you trying to escape. Now, since you're a fairy and not a witch, I don't expect you to last long in this realm."

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

"What I mean is that you won't be able to live in a realm of darkness and evil for very long," he said. "There is a spell on Fergal, so that anyone of non-magical and dark magic descent can live here, but anyone with good magic cannot. How long they last depends on the fairy and how much good magic that fairy has inside of her. The more good magic, the quicker the spell will work. I would say you'll only last a week or two, before the dark magic here will destroy you. That's why we have to get your powers quickly."

"I knew it," she said. "You just want my powers!"

"Yes I do," he said, as they reached the palace. "And once I have them and once the darkness finishes you off, I'll be able to find a witch to sit on the throne of this realm with me. Now get inside!" He shoved her into the palace walls, the gate closing behind them. She could almost hear her freedom and her hope go flying out the window.

-----------

Back at Cloud Tower, the darkness was finally beginning to dissipate and the group was beginning to get their bearings back again. A few rays from Stella's staff helped as well. When they were all able to see again, they realized instantly that one of their number was missing, the one that really shouldn't be missing.

"Oh no!" said Flora fearfully. "Nezaro got Layla!"

"We have to find her!" yelled Jason. "There's no telling what he might be doing to her!"

"Jason, calm down," said Sky. "We can't go charging after them without a plan."

"There might not be time for a plan," said Jason. "We have to find them now!"

"Going after them right away won't help Layla," said Bloom. "If we follow them without a plan, we'll just get defeated all over again and Layla will be doomed to whatever fate Nezaro has planned for her. We have to decide what our next move's going to be."

"Then let me give you a suggestion as to where to start," said a voice in the shadows. Professor Griffin was walking towards them. The boys looked at her distrustfully, but the girls were willing to accept any help she could give them.

"What is it, Professor Griffin?" asked Bloom curiously.

"Before Icy, Darcy and Stormy attacked, Layla found something in her room that I think you may find interesting."

"Where's her room?" asked Guinevere.

Professor Griffin cast a quick spell, so they were all inside Layla room. "I was checking on her and I found her looking at something in this room. It shocked her greatly, but then she got a look on her face that said she ought to have realized it sooner. She left a clue for you in this room, but finding that clue is a job I'm going to leave to you." She walked out of the room and back to her office, the fairies and the heroes looking after her disgruntled.

"Where do we start?" asked Nirvana.

"Everyone take a section of the room and start looking," said Brandon. They searched every inch of the room, but they didn't find anything that looked like it might help them find Layla.

"I guess there's nothing here," said Stella. "Maybe the witches got here first."

"Maybe, but I don't…" started Guinevere, but she stopped. She had seen something on the bookshelf that caught her eye.

"Guinevere, what is it?" asked Andrew, but she held one hand up to get him to be quiet. She walked over to the bookshelf and ran her finger along the books, looking for the one she wanted.

"What are you doing Guinevere?" asked Flora. "Those books are all full of dark magic."

"Not all of them," she said, finding the one she was looking for. She pulled out a book with a turquoise-colored spine and back cover and a design of waves on the front cover. "This journal, it's Layla's."

"How do you know?" asked Nirvana.

"Because I've seen her writing in it a few times," replied Guinevere. "The night we got Musa out of Rancor's control, Layla stayed up later than I did because she was writing in here. She had it out again about two weeks ago. I haven't seen it since. I keep meaning to ask her about it, but I know she won't tell me. It's strange though, she doesn't strike me as the journal type."

"That's because she's not," said Musa. "I've never even heard her say the word journal."

"Let me see that," said Tecna. She started flipping through the pages, her eyes widening as she read. She sat down on the bed, continuing to read it, her face showing avid fascination. "Oh my gosh," she whispered.

"What is it Tecna?" asked Timmy.

"It's a record Layla's been keeping of all our adventures," replied Tecna. "It includes everything from the exam last semester to defeating Rancor. It's amazing."

"Come on Tecna, give us details," said Stella. "What does she say in there?"

"Let's see, everything from the events last semester all the way to us defeating Paritho is just vague suspicions. Then there's this one entry, after we broke that evil spell Rancor put on Musa. Listen to this:

_We finally managed to save Musa and things are all right for the moment. But there's something that's been bothering me ever since this afternoon. Nirvana got here and said that Rancor came to visit Paritho on Angelicas. How would those two know each other? There's something strange going on here, more than what we think it is. Up until now, it's just seemed like random villains were going after our powers, but now, I'm beginning to think they're all teamed up and want our powers together. But if that were the case, then Guinevere attacking us would have been pure coincidence. She was under a spell, she's not descended from evil._

_Ms. Faragonda did say that we had more power than we think we did and that we would all be in great danger, but I wish she would have warned us about this. I wonder if I should tell the others about this idea. No, not just yet. Until I'm sure of what's going on, I'd better keep my suspicions to myself._

"So Layla's been suspecting something from the start, but wasn't sure what it was?" asked Jason.

"That's what it sounds like," said Riven.

"What does it say after that Tecna?" asked Helia.

"More things on what happened between Musa and Rancor and then it starts up on her and Nezaro. There's some things on how shocked she was when she found out about the engagement and how her cousin and mermaid friends helped her escape. And then, oh my gosh."

"What is it?" asked Sky.

"The most recent entries were written just this morning," said Tecna. "It looks like she took all those books over there and copied certain passages from some of them."

"Why would she do that?" asked Musa.

"Because she found things in them that might help her figure this matter out," replied Tecna. "She even looked through one of the spell books. And in it, she found the spell Paritho used to put me under his control and some of the spells Rancor used on Musa. Then, all the others were stories and history of dark magic. She even copied a family tree in here."

"A family tree, what for?" asked Bloom.

"I'm trying to figure that out, just a minute," said Tecna, looking it over. She followed the lines back up the tree with her finger, but stopped when she saw what they led back to. The look on her face was one of pure horror. She brought one hand to her mouth to stifle her scream, dropping the book out of surprise.

"Tecna, what's the matter?" asked Stella. "Nirvana, what's the matter with you?"

Nirvana had been reading over Tecna's shoulder for several minutes and the look of fear and horror on her face was equal to the one on Tecna's. She stooped down and picked up the journal, hoping her eyes had deceived her, but that turned out not to be the case.

"Angel, what is it?" asked Carlos worriedly.

Nirvana took a shaky breath and said, "All names on here lead back to one, Dracona." All the other girls except for Bloom gasped, Flora had to stifle a scream. Bloom, however, didn't see what the big deal was. She looked at Sky, but he just shrugged. None of the boy's knew that name either.

"Uh, I don't wanna sound dumb here, but who's Dracona?" asked Bloom hesitantly.

The girls looked at her as though she was nuts.

"You're kidding right?" asked Guinevere. Bloom shook her head. Fortunately, Nirvana decided to take pity on her.

"It's the first thing every single fairy learns when she's a little girl. In magical history, the first thing she learns is the story of Dracona, the most powerful witch that ever existed. Millenniums ago, she tried to conquer everyone and everything, gradually gaining power as she went. Then a small group of fairies stood up against her and defeated her. Everyone thought that was the end of it at the time. Then a few months later, someone spread the rumor that before she started gathering power, she'd had a child. The identity was never found out. I wouldn't be surprised if half the evildoers in the world were her descendants."

"Rather more than half by the looks of this," said Tecna, her hand over her heart still trying to calm it. "There are dozens of names on there." She gestured at the journal, still in Nirvana's hands and said, "take a good look at the last page the family tree is on Nirvana. Any names look familiar?"

Nirvana looked over the chart and gasped, "oh my gosh, Paritho is on here. So is Rancor and there's Nezaro and Icy, Darcy, and Stormy."

"Even Lord Darkar," said Bloom, looking over Nirvana's shoulder at the family tree.

"So, what do they all want with our powers?" asked Stella.

"Layla's answered that too," said Nirvana. "Listen to this:"

_If all our enemies are descended from Dracona, they would do just about anything to rule the realms. And anything includes stealing our powers. One of the books on that bookshelf also told in detail what really happened to Dracona all those years ago. The full story was lost centuries ago, but apparently, Professor Griffin knows it and I'll bet Ms. Faragonda does too. And when I read that story…well, let's just say the girls would never believe me if I told them all this._

_Apparently, Dracona had conquered all realms but one: The Realm of Elements._

"The Realm of Elements?" broke in Guinevere. "I thought that was a myth."

"I assure you, it's as real as the ground we stand on," said Nirvana.

"How do you know?" asked Stella.

"Because I've been there, that's actually where I met Carlos."

"It's true," said Carlos. "Angelicas is the only realm that's on any sort of relations with Elements. I was there for a few days and so was Nirvana, out with her friends for a day."

"I shouldn't be surprised Dracona saved that realm for last. It was at one time the strongest of all the realms. Now they've secluded themselves. Queen Alexandra never did tell me why." She turned back to the journal and kept on reading about the legend of Dracona, the pieces beginning to fall into place the further she got.

_She went to Elements, knowing she'd have to be on her guard. The realm's forces put up a huge resistance and for awhile, it looked as though she'd been defeated. But she came back strong and took out all the royal forces with one blow. Then a group of nine fairies from some of the different realms she'd conquered stood up to her. When they'd heard that Elements was the last untouched realm, they'd gone there and formed a plan. Each fairy was either the princess or queen of her realm and they were ready to take back their realms whatever the cost._

_One of those nine fairies was the Queen of Elements, Aria. This is how Dracona knew she'd have to be on her guard. The Queen carries a pendant called the Evenstar, which contains all the power of the realm inside. The only two people who can wield it are the Queen and the princess who's destined to become Queen. Dracona knew all she'd have to do was get that pendant and she'd have complete power over everything. But Aria wasn't going to let her have it without a fight and anyway, even if someone else did get hold of it, they can't bend it to their will without an exceptionally strong hex._

_The nine fairies unleashed their power into one big attack on Dracona and finally she was defeated, but at a terrible price. Aria used up so much of her energy that she didn't survive the blast, the only one of the nine who didn't walk away from that fight and return home. Her husband had already been killed in battle, so her sister, Juliana, ruled as kind of a caretaker until her daughter, Magdalena, was old enough to be crowned Queen. The realms went back to normal and details of what had happened were lost with time._

_And here's the part I can't believe, no matter how many times I read it: all the princesses were our ancestors. They came from our realms, had the same powers we do, and when I saw pictures of them in that book, even had similar Winx outfits! There's one that's the spitting image of Guinevere and another that looks like she has Stella's taste in fashion. That also means that another fairy is going to join the Winx Club. There are eight of us at the moment, and the story said that nine fairies stood up to Dracona. So basically, a Princess of Elements is going to come to Alfea pretty soon, I just know it!_

_And here's why there are bad guys right and left trying to get our powers. Dracona was defeated, but she wasn't killed. She was imprisoned with no way of escape. The only way to release her is to use the same power that trapped her. If her descendents get a hold of our powers, they can use them to set her free._

Nirvana looked up, her face was as white as a sheet. "You guys, we're in way over our heads here."

"That's putting it lightly," said Bloom. "We have to do something!"

"Don't you think we should rescue Layla before concentrating on anything else?" asked Jason. They all nodded. Timmy summoned a ship from Red Fountain and they left immediately for Fergal, all wondering just how they were going to rescue Layla.

**Author's Note:** All right, so we have Layla captured (not good) and her friends don't know how to rescue her (even worse). But on the plus side, they now know what's going on with them. So how many of you saw something like that coming? What did you think? Did I explain the story well enough? I planned this out so carefully. See, Layla had a gut feeling she wouldn't last the entire three days, so she placed the journal where she knew the others would fine it. And Guinevere was the natural one to find it since she's seen Layla writing in it. And I came up with the story of Dracona because I have to tie all these stories together somehow and that worked perfectly. Next chapter is going to be the start of the mission to rescue Layla. Please leave a review and as always, stay tuned!


	7. Attack on the Palace

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! All right, so last time, we had Layla get captured by Nezaro without having spent even a full day at Cloud Tower and we had the girls discover the journal she's been keeping which tells all her suspicions of what's been going on. We also had the story of Dracona. And just a side note, I had a comment in one of my reviews that Icy, Darcy and Stormy were descended from the three ancestral witches. Those three witches were also descended from Dracona and Icy, Darcy and Stormy are the last members of that branch of the family. Is that better? I hope it is! Happy reading!

**Chapter 7: Attack on the Palace**

As they traveled to Fergal, the girls tried to come up with a plan as best they could.

"What do we know about this realm?" asked Guinevere. "Is there something or someone there that can help us rescue Layla?"

"I doubt there's anyone who can help us," said Nirvana. "The chances of finding allies in an evil realm are slim, very slim."

"Tecna, what are you working on over there?" asked Stella suddenly.

"I'm trying to dig up some information on Fergal, anything that'll help us," replied Tecna, typing rapidly on the computer sitting in her lap. What she found was definitely not what she expected. "Oh no!" she said, her hands shaking.

"What is it Tecna?" asked Timmy, gazing worriedly at her.

"There's some kind of spell on Fergal, so that only witches, evil warlocks and non-magical beings can live there," replied Tecna.

"What do you mean?" asked Bloom.

"We won't last long if we stay there," said Tecna. "The boys will be all right, but the realm will drain all the magic out of us. How quickly magic drains depends on the fairy. But the point is if something happens so we can't leave, none of us will survive."

"You mean the spell on the realm will eventually…" said Flora, her voice trailing off. Tecna nodded grimly. All the girls gasped and the boys all exchanged worried glances.

"We're going to have to rescue Layla quickly then," said Jason.

"Tecna, can you find out just how long we have before the spell starts affecting you girls?" asked Sky.

"Apparently, it'll start its work the moment we enter the realm," said Tecna, typing more into her computer. "But we all have varying amounts of time to stay there. Let's see Layla and Musa would last about a week. Guinevere, Flora and I would all have about five days. Nirvana and Stella would last for about three."

"What about me?" asked Bloom, dreading the answer.

"Exactly twenty-four hours if you're lucky," said Tecna.

"So, we only have twenty-four hours to rescue Layla?" asked Riven. "That doesn't sound hard."

"You're too cocky for your own good, Riven," said Sky, who'd turned pale when he heard how long the girls, particularly his girl had before they could end up lying still and cold on the ground in Fergal.

"If we're going to come up with a plan, we'd better do it fast," said Carlos. "Look outside."

"What do you mean?" asked Andrew, who'd been busy comforting Guinevere.

"We've reached Fergal," said Timmy.

The girls all looked out the windows, then took a step back, each one taking the hand of her boyfriend for comfort. None of them liked the looks of the place. It was more or less a barren wasteland, no signs of plant or animal life. The buildings had large gaping holes in the walls and roofs, looking as though they would tumble to the ground at any second. The castle was pretty much the only thing in the realm not falling apart. It was hard to find the castle at first, but then they realized that it was built into a mountain made of black stone. It didn't look like it had an entrance either, no doors, no windows, just plain stone. Each person wondered how they were going to get in, but then decided they'd cross that bridge when they got there.

"Where should we land?" asked Brandon.

"How about over there by the palace?" asked Musa, pointing to a clear patch of land.

"We can't land there, it'll attract every guard in the place," said Nirvana.

"We can't land too far away, or we won't be able to get back to the ship before the time is up," said Guinevere.

"Land in that clearing," said Bloom, pointing to a spot of land in the middle of the small village. Timmy gently set the ship down and they walked out into the realm. Almost at once, the girls all felt a strong ache in their hearts. Each one gave a grimace, Bloom, Flora and Nirvana even cried out in pain. This automatically put the guys in overprotective-boyfriend-mode.

"Flora, are you all right?" asked Helia, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"It's the spell," she managed to say. "It's taking hold already."

Realizing they didn't have much time, they all started for the palace. The girls all transformed, a couple of them with some difficulty, but when they reached the palace, the guards were ready for them.

-----------

While the rest of the group had been reading the journal, Nezaro had taken Layla up to a large room and locked her in. He had told her to get ready for their wedding there and not to take too long. He'd laid out a black dress for her, but she hadn't put it on yet. She had been sitting by the window, trying to transform again, but she couldn't do it, at least not while in the palace. She tried to use her Winx to get in touch with one of her friends but the realm's power was stopping her.

Suddenly, the door opened and Nezaro walked in. He took one look at her and said, "I know you don't want to marry me, but can we please do this with as little frustration as possible. I'm no happier about it than you are, so just cooperate and everything will be all right."

"Not for me it won't," said Layla.

"For pities sakes girl, relax. It won't last for long," said Nezaro. "You'll only be able to live in this realm for a week anyway. Come to think of it, when I steal your powers, I might finish you off before the spell does."

"There's no way I'm letting you steal my powers," said Layla.

"You don't have a choice," said Nezaro. "You can't escape." At that moment, a horn sounded from the parapet. Nezaro gasped, grabbed Layla and started to drag her out of the room.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded. "What's going on?"

"That horn means there's trouble," said Nezaro. "It looks like your friends have come to your rescue. Little do they know they don't have much time here either. Come on, we have to get to the throne room. We'll be married, whether you like it or not."

But that wasn't in Layla's plans. She realized she'd have to stall Nezaro long enough for the guys to get in the palace, the only question was how. But then it came to her. The spell on the realm only weakened her; Nezaro had a separate spell on her that kept her from transforming. And it was beginning to wear off because he was putting so much more magic into the castle defenses and alerting the guards to get outside and defend the place.

"If I can get enough strength to make him let go of me, maybe I can get enough of a head start to get away from him," she thought to herself. She could feel her magic beginning to flow back within her body, it was just a question of when she'd have enough strength to turn it on him. After a few seconds, she felt her powers flourish, felt her heart burst with the knowledge that she'd be able to fight back. Nezaro stopped abruptly, apparently he'd felt it too. Even though she couldn't see his face, she was sure the expression on it was one of total shock.

"What's the matter, Nezaro?" she asked. "Can't keep track of more than one spell at a time? Ocean Blast!"

A large current shot out of her outstretched fingers, taking her opponent completely by surprise and sending him spluttering and dripping wet against the far wall. But she didn't have a second to waste. She ran as fast as she could, not daring to look back at him. It didn't take him long to get his second wind. She could hear him behind her, running to catch up with her. She turned into a nearby corridor and dashed inside a small room.

She waited a moment and heard Nezaro go past. She looked around the room she was in and saw it was a bedroom, for servants probably. She started to look around to see if she could find anything to help her, but at that moment, she heard something outside. It was Nezaro. His footsteps were coming rapidly back down the corridor. He'd found her at last.

"Come out of there Layla!" he yelled to her. "You can't escape!"

She didn't open the door, but locked it and using a quick spell barricaded it. She could hear Nezaro outside throwing some of his attacks on the door, trying to force his way in. She saw a small hole he'd managed to make in the door. Trying as hard as she could, she managed to transform and sent an attack back out of the hole. She heard him fall back, but then he started to attack more ferociously.

"Hurry guys!" she said. "I can't keep this up much longer!"

----------

Outside the palace, the guards were advancing on the Winx Club and their boyfriends, prepared to do anything to keep them from getting inside. Jason, by this time, was ready to take down anything and everything that stood between him and Layla. He could clearly see a door in the palace now. Apparently it was spelled so that it only opened when someone from inside wanted to go out and only someone who lived inside could come back in. They'd need one of the guards to get back inside.

"Okay guys," said Bloom. "We have to clear a path to get inside! Flora, Guinevere and Nirvana, you take that left group there. Musa and Tecna, go for the ones on the right. Stella, you come with me right in the center. Each boy, go with your girlfriend. As soon as we have enough out of the way, we'll make a break for the palace. Sound good to everyone?"

"What happens when we get inside?" asked Flora.

"We'll figure that out when the time comes," said Bloom. "Let's just take this one step at a time. Let's go!" They followed her orders and started taking out as many as they could. The girls took out most of the soldiers right away, while the boys handled the tougher ones with more sword practice. Sky and Riven, two of the best fighters of the group, took out several guards after a few minutes of fighting. Both Bloom and Musa were very impressed.

"There's our chance!" said Tecna, pointing to one of the few remaining guards. He was making a break for the palace, most likely to report back to Nezaro. The doors opened slightly to admit it and he made it through before they started to shut. Bloom, however, had been right behind him the entire time and she made it to the doors before they closed. She stretched her arms out on either side of herself and a burst of fire came from each hand. The flames hit the door, keeping it from shutting and allowing the rest of the group to enter the palace. Once they were all inside, Bloom stopped the spell, but was so tired from it, she just barely made it out of the way before the doors closed on her.

"Bloom, are you all right?" asked Sky.

"I'm fine," said Bloom. "That spell took a lot more out of me than it should have." The enchantment on the realm was already beginning to take its toll on her.

Now that they were actually inside the palace, they were able to start tracking down Layla, but that was going to be easier said than done. The place was enormous and because there wasn't any kind of decoration on the walls, every corridor looked the same. It'd be the easiest thing in the world for them to get themselves lost.

"This place is huge, where do we start?" asked Nirvana.

"At the moment, we've got bigger problems," said Guinevere, pointing straight ahead. More guards were coming towards them, and Icy, Darcy and Stormy were leading them.

"Well, what do we have here?" asked Icy. "Some weak little pixies looking for their friend."

"I've had enough of them calling us weak pixies," said Musa. She was about to fly up and attack them, but Riven grabbed her around the waist and held her back.

"Musa no, not until we know what they've got planned," he whispered in her ear.

"Listen, can you losers let us beat you?" asked Stormy. "We're on a deadline here."

"Sorry, not happening!" yelled Bloom. She flew at the witches before the others could stop her. Musa broke free of Riven's grip and flew towards them as well. The fairies started battling with everything they had, but the witches had the upper hand. The spell was weakening the girl's power already and enhancing the witch's powers.

"Venus Vine Wrap!" shouted Flora, raising her hands at the witches. But the vines grew slow and weak and when they did reach the witches, they weren't strong enough to even wrap around one ankle. Flora looked shocked as she realized that even with her full power, she wasn't strong enough to overcome the enchantment that was slowly draining her of her magic.

"Sound Blast!" yelled Musa, creating a set of sound vibrations that reverberated around the room. But it didn't have nearly the impact it normally did. The witches were laughing at the girls feeble attempts to fight the spell and them at the same time.

"Musa! Flora!" yelled Bloom. "Go and find Layla, we'll hold the witches off! Helia, Riven, Jason, go with them!"

"Not so fast!" said Darcy, flying towards Flora. Helia stepped protectively in front of her, but he knew he was no match for the witch if she decided to put one of her darkness spells on him.

Fortunately, Stella was ready for that. "Sun Burst!" she yelled, pointing her staff at the three witches. This had more of an effect than the other attacks did. She was able to create a burst of light great enough to blind the witches for a few seconds, giving Flora and Musa enough time to fly down the corridor and get away from the battle, their boyfriends right behind him. When they had found someplace quiet, the two girls sat down on the floor, very tired.

"Are you ok Musa?" asked Riven worriedly, kneeling down next to her.

"It's this dumb spell," replied Musa. "I can't use my full power and I'm exhausted."

"I can't do anything either," said Flora. "My power is draining faster than I can talk."

"Flora, do you have enough power to find Layla?" asked Jason.

"I think so," she said. She closed her eyes and spoke to the Voice of Nature, asking it to help her find Layla. It told her exactly where to go, although by the time she'd finished the spell, she was even more tired. Thankfully, the room Layla was in wasn't very far away. "This way," she said, trying to get up, but her knees buckled out from under her. Helia caught her and helped her walk down the corridor and she leaned her head on his shoulder, grateful to have him there.

Musa, having a little more strength than Flora did, was able to follow the directions Flora gave her and flew down the next two corridors to scout for more trouble. She returned to the group a few seconds later and said, "it doesn't look good up there. I just saw Nezaro forcing Layla out of the room she was hiding in."

Jason didn't say anything. He just turned pale and ran at full speed down the hallway until he came to the bend that Musa had just returned from. He peeked his head around the corner and saw that Musa was right. Nezaro had a hold of Layla's arms and was forcing her to walk in the opposite direction from where he was, allowing for him to sneak up on them and rescue his girlfriend.

------------

While the rest of the Winx Club and heroes were forcing their way into the palace, Layla had been doing everything she could to keep Nezaro out of the room she was hiding in. She fired attacks back at him, but eventually he forced his way inside. By this time, she was dog tired, but she wasn't going to just stop and give in to him.

"Are you ready to give up yet Layla?" he asked her. "You know you can't escape."

"As long as there's still hope, I'm not going to give up!" she said and fired again.

"This is getting very tiresome Layla, and besides, hope isn't something that can get you out of every single mess you get into. You have to have plans in order to make an escape like you're trying to make. You have to have a plan like you and your cousin made on Tides. You can't just wish and hope that everything will come out all right because it won't, not for you anyway."

"How did you know Ariel helped me come up with that plan?" asked Layla.

"I overheard you telling your mermaid friends everything," replied Nezaro.

"But if you had overheard, I would definitely have noticed you," said Layla. "I would have at least sensed your presence in the water. I would have known you were there, so what you're saying is impossible."

"For someone like me, nothing is impossible Layla," said Nezaro, taking a few steps towards her. She backed away, knowing there was nowhere for her to run. "I was watching you from my room in Tides. I saw you leave with friends and I cast a spell so I could hear everything you told them. It was a clever plan, I must admit. And it was remarkable how you managed to call out to your 'boyfriend' to help you. I can see you love him but there's nothing you can do. You're going to marry me, I will steal your powers and the first thing I'm going to do with them is capture your boyfriend and let him join you!"

"No, you can't!" yelled Layla.

"Oh yes I can!" said Nezaro in a voice of deadly calm. "Once I have your powers, all I'll have to do is bring him here. Once he finds out about what the spell will have done to you, then I'll finish him off as well. He'll be forced to watch the spell destroy you and then I'll put him out of his misery. It feels good to control everything in this realm!"

"Well newsflash Nezaro, you can't control me!" yelled Layla. "Ocean Blast!" But the attack wasn't nearly as strong as it was on Tides or in Magix. The spell on the realm had already begun to weaken her powers and it was hard for her to stay in her Winx form. She tried her best not to transform back to her normal self and kept firing at him, but Nezaro walked towards her, as though her attacks were nothing more than gentle breezes.

"Now are you ready to give up?" he asked her. He already knew the answer to that one however, and before she could answer or attack, he had fired one of his strongest attacks at her and she fell to the ground in a heap.

"Come on Layla, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get your powers," he said, grabbing her arms and forcing her outside into the hallway. "And it won't be for long. You won't even have time to think about that boyfriend of yours."

"Oh really?" came a voice from the other end of the hallway. Nezaro gasped and Layla smiled as though she'd never smiled before. Musa, Riven, Flora, Helia and Jason were standing there, ready to take her to safety and get even with Nezaro once and for all.

"How did you get here?" asked Nezaro.

"It's a good thing we did," said Jason. "Now release Layla or else!"

"Or else what?" asked Nezaro. "Pretty big words for someone who's about to meet his end."

"You guys have to get out of here," said Layla. "There's a spell on the realm and…"

"Layla, we know and we don't care," said Musa.

"We just want to rescue you," said Flora.

"And it's going to start with a little Sound Blast!" said Musa. She used all the power she had left on Nezaro, but it still wasn't enough.

"Venus Vine Wrap!" yelled Flora. But if it didn't work when she fought the witches, she didn't expect it to work now. She flew towards Layla instead to see if her friend was all right. Nezaro turned to stop her, but Helia and Jason grabbed him from behind, restraining him from hurting their girlfriends. He was distracted for a few seconds, which was enough time for Layla and Flora to rejoin Musa and Riven.

"We have to get out of here!" said Layla, getting to her feet. "Where are the others?"

"Back there, taking care of Icy, Darcy and Stormy and more guards," replied Flora.

"Musa, can you do something to give us a head start back there?" asked Jason.

"No problem!" said Musa coolly. She cast a spell so that music was playing all around them. It was one of her favorite rap songs, but as she expected Nezaro hated it. He covered his ears and shut his eyes tight. "Come on, let's go!" yelled Musa. She, Flora and Layla flew down the corridor, Riven, Helia and Jason, running behind them. A few minutes later, Nezaro released a burst of magic out of pure anger and broke the spell.

"Crafty," he said. "But I'm just getting warmed up."

**Author's Note:** All right, so we have all the fairies and heroes in Fergal, some of them fighting the witches, the rest rescuing Layla and none knowing how they're going to get out. Not good! But don't worry, everything will be all right! Don't forget to review and as always, stay tuned!


	8. Run for the Ship

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long but I've been studying for finals while also trying to focus on my Twilight story, Runaway Pixie. But now that that story is finished, I have more time for the Quest for Power Series. So last time, we had the rest of the group enter Fergal and we saw the somewhat rescue of Layla from Nezaro, somewhat because they still have to get out of the realm. Maybe that'll happen this time, maybe it won't. Happy reading!

**Chapter 8: Run for the Ship**

While Flora, Musa, Helia, Riven and Jason were helping Layla, the rest of the girls and their boyfriends were having a rough time keeping the witches and the rest of the guards at bay. The girls were losing their strength faster than they could breathe and the more magic they used, the more quickly the spell's work progressed on then.

"We can't keep this up much longer!" yelled Stella.

"Bloom, we have to do something!" yelled Nirvana.

"Yeah, or else we're going to get creamed!" yelled Guinevere. She saw Icy coming towards her and yelled, "Diamond Storm!"

"World Wide Web!" yelled Tecna, trapping several of the guards in one cage and sending them to another part of the realm.

The boys weren't having much luck either. Carlos and Andrew were lying on the ground, each sporting a few cuts and bruises. Timmy and Brandon were still trying to fight but both were exhausted. Sky was the only one who still had any spirit left in him. He fought as hard as he could, all his thoughts centered on protecting Bloom from the guards and the witches.

"Ok guys, fall back!" yelled Bloom. "We've given the others all the time we can! We have to regroup and form a new plan!"

"The problem is I don't think there's a safe place in this realm to come up with one!" said Nirvana. She was proven right in another thing as well that they would be hard pressed to get away so they could find a safe place. At that moment, she felt a hand grip her hard on the shoulder and another hand on the back of her head. The next second, her vision went black and she hit the ground hard and it didn't take a genius to see that she'd been hit with one of Darcy's darkness spells.

"Nirvana no!" yelled Carlos, dashing over to his girlfriend.

"Relax Carlos, I'm all right," said Nirvana, as he helped her up.

"Nira, hold on a second!" yelled Stella. She flew over to her friend, placed her hand over her eyes and cast a quick spell so her eyesight was restored. Nirvana blinked several times trying to get herself reoriented.

"Thanks Stella!" She looked up flew at Darcy and saw that she had turned away to go and sneak attack Bloom. With a newfound vigor inside, Nirvana flew up towards Darcy before Carlos could stop her and yelled, "Heaven's Charm!" Darcy, not prepared her and really not liking bright lights, fell back when a pink beam of light hit her in the back. She turned back towards Nirvana and growled under her breath.

"That was a big mistake, pixie," she said.

"Oh, I'm so scared," said Nirvana sarcastically. "Angel's Light!" An even brighter light shone from her hands and Darcy had to cover her eyes to keep from being blinded by it.

"What do we do now?" asked Guinevere, as they all backed up. They were surrounded, guards on all sides and the witches laughing their heads off. This was a jam they weren't going to get out of unless help came to them right that second, which in a place like this wasn't a very likely thing to happen. But fortunately, luck was on their side today.

"Tidal Wave!"

A surge of water came bursting down the corridor and the guards were all washed away with the tide. They looked and saw Layla, Flora and Musa flying towards them, their boyfriend's right behind them. The girls all breathed a sigh of relief to see Layla was unharmed and the boys smiled to see that they had some backup in fighting off the witches. Unfortunately, the witches still had some power to spare.

"So, the water pixie managed to escape," said Icy. "Well enjoy it while you can! Ice Crystals!" The darts flew at the girls, but Stella raised her staff into the air and a second later, the ice crystals were nothing more than a puddle of water on the floor. The witches weren't going to admit it, but they were starting to get a little tired themselves. The spell wasn't affecting them, but so many battles against the fairies were as draining for them as they were for the Winx girls.

"Dragon Blast!" yelled Bloom. She fired her strongest attack at the witches and they were forced to fall back.

"Don't think this is over pixies!" yelled Icy as she and the other two made their escape. "You still have Nezaro to deal with!" The girls drifted to the ground after they received the all clear from the boys. When Riven, Jason and Helia got there, they had managed to round up the rest of them easily, considering Riven was one of the best fighters of the group and Helia could trap several people at once with that glove he always wore.

"Are you all right Layla?" asked Tecna, reaching up to hug her friend.

"I'm fine, let's just get out of here!" said Layla.

"Easier said than done, look!" said Guinevere, pointing out a nearby window.

"What is it?" asked Musa. Then she shouted, "no way!"

"What's the matter, Musa?" asked Riven.

"There are even more guards surrounding the ship," Guinevere explained to them. "We'll be hard pressed to find a safe way out of here."

"What do we do then?" asked Stella.

"How about surrender?" said a voice from the other side of the corridor, which turned out to be Nezaro. He was walking towards them, an angry look on his face and energy balls beginning to form in the palms of his hands.

"We don't have the strength to fight him," said Tecna. "We're still tired from fighting the witches."

"Why do I get the feeling that was their plan?" asked Bloom.

"Then what do you propose we do Bloom?" asked Sky.

"I say, we get out of here!" she said.

"Great idea!" said all the girls together. They started flying down the hallway, the boy's right behind them. They looked everywhere for a safe place to hide, but it seemed impossible.

"Now what?" asked Nirvana, as they reached a dead end. She looked back down the hallway. Nezaro hadn't rounded the corner yet, but he would at any second. He was moving painstakingly slowly, building the agony for them because they knew when he arrived, they were dead meat.

"Well, we'd better of think of something," said Stella. "If we don't, Nezaro will… whoa, ahhhh!" She had leaned back against the wall and a secret door had opened. She fell through it, landing hard on the ground.

"Are you okay Stella?" called Brandon.

"Yeah, I think so," she said. "Everyone get in here, there's room big enough for all of us to hide in."

The thought that this was a little too convenient and that this might be a trap crossed everyone's minds, but at the moment, they didn't have any other choice. It was either enter this room or stay out in the hallway and be pummeled into the ground by the prince of the realm. They all piled into the secret room and shut the door, just seconds before Nezaro peered down the hallway. He walked right past at first, but then doubled back when he remembered the storage room that was hidden behind one of the walls. He smirked as he made his way towards it.

"I think we're safe," said Guinevere, who couldn't hear the sound of Nezaro's footsteps approaching. "Stella, could you give us a little light?" Stella raised her staff in the air and a bright light filled the entire room. It was a hiding place all right, there were crates of food in all the corners and a few mattresses on the ground.

"We have to think of a way to get back to the ship," said Sky. "There has to be a way."

"If there is, we'd better find it soon," said Timmy, checking his watch. They'd been there for four hours, already much longer that he'd expected. Even if they still had twenty hours to find an escape route, twenty hours could still pass very quickly if they didn't use that time wisely.

"Does anyone else hear that?" asked Musa suddenly. They all listened and heard a sound coming from right outside the door. Too late, Bloom realized what it was.

"Oh no!" she said. She ran for the door and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. "Nezaro's sealed us in! We're trapped!"

"Sealed us in?" asked Guinevere. "How are we supposed to get back to the ship if we can't get out of here?"

"I'll get us out of here," said Musa. "Sound…" but Riven cut her off.

"Musa no!" he told her. "That's exactly what Nezaro wants. He wants you girls to use up even more magic so you won't be able to fight him. We'll have to find another way out."

"What if there isn't another way out?" she asked him. He didn't answer.

"Tecna, can you do a complete search of the room for another exit?" asked Sky.

"No problem," she said. She pulled out her computer and did a quick scan. After a few seconds, she said, "there's another secret passage behind that wall. And it comes out fairly close to the ship."

"Is there a catch?" asked Bloom.

"Of course," said Tecna. "Did you expect there to not be one? The guards are not only surrounding the ship, but they're surrounding the exit as well. So, anyway we look at it, we're doomed."

"Well, I say fighting a bunch of guards is better than trying to force our way out that door and fighting Nezaro," said Layla.

"She's right," said Jason. "The secret passage is our best option."

"Where exactly is it Tecna?" asked Timmy.

"Right here," said Tecna. She walked over to the wall and pushed down on one of the torch brackets hanging there. A secret door opened, revealing a staircase going down underground. They all started down it, wondering if they were going to be able to make it to the ship. After about an hour, they hadn't made much progress and all were beginning to feel tired and wondering if they had walked into another trap.

"Does this thing ever end?" asked Stella.

"Good question Stella," said Brandon. "Are you sure this'll get us back to the ship?"

"Pretty sure," said Tecna. "Just keep walking."

"Maybe you girls should power down your Winx for a little while," suggested Sky. "You need to get some of your strength back."

"But our powers are already weak as it is, Sky. There's no guarantee we'll be able to transform again," said Bloom.

"She's right," said Nirvana. "We have to stay powered up."

"As long as you don't use up all your power in one sinning," said Carlos.

"Let's just get back to the ship," said Andrew. "You girls can get as much rest as you need and have more than enough time to regenerate your Winx once we're out of here."

Unfortunately, Nezaro had an unwelcome surprise for them. He wasn't satisfied with how slowly the spell was progressing on each of the fairies, even if one of them would be dead in less than twenty-four hours.

"They're not leaving," he said. Then he whispered a spell. "Falagra cutarana."

Back in the tunnel, the girls all cried out in pain as they felt the spell take hold of them much more rapidly. They knew in that instant that if they didn't get out of there soon, they would all be dead in less than a day.

"Girls, what is it?" asked Jason.

"It's Nezaro," said Layla. "He's increased the power on that dumb spell."

"We have to keep going," said Sky. "There isn't much time left." The problem was that all the girls were having trouble even walking by this time. Nirvana and Tecna were both forced to power down their Winx, having to lean on Carlos and Timmy just to be able to stand. Flora not only had to power down, but every time she tried to walk, her knees buckled underneath her, refusing to support her weight. After about five steps, she had to allow Helia to carry her. She tried to say she could walk and didn't want to be a burden, but he just shushed her and carried her tightly and protectively down the tunnel. Stella managed to stay in her Winx form, but she collapsed and had to be carried as well. Brandon held her firmly, determined to let nothing else happen to her. Stella couldn't help but smile slightly when she saw the determination burning in his eyes. They all breathed a deep sigh of relief when finally, they reached a dead end. It was the end of the tunnel, now all they had to do was get aboveground.

Then, Jason saw a hatch in the ceiling. He pushed on it and a door opened. "Stay here," he said. He lifted himself out and looked around. He didn't see anyone, but he that if Tecna said there were guards surrounding them, then he had to keep on his guard. All the same, they had to get out of there and get back to the ship.

"The coast is clear," he whispered back down to them. He reached into the passage and pulled Layla out. One by one, they all climbed out of the passage, Nirvana and Tecna having to get extra help from the guys. Stella was able to fly out, but she couldn't go up very high. Helia lifted Flora out of the hatch and Bloom pulled her all the way out, then he swung himself out.

"The ship is just behind those rocks," said Riven. "If we can get back there, we may have a chance."

"Something's wrong, this is way too easy," said Sky.

"He's right," said Brandon. "I thought you said there were guards around here."

But he shouldn't have said that. The next second, there were guards surrounding them on all sides. They just seemed to pop up out of the ground, but knowing how strong Nezaro's magic was, they probably did. The boys all drew their weapons and the girls who still had powers prepared to attack. But they knew it would take a miracle to get out of this one. And if the witches or Nezaro showed up, they were done for. They had to come up with a very effective plan and fast.

"Okay," said Sky. "Timmy, Helia and Carlos, get the girls back to the ship. We'll hold these guys off."

"Sky, you won't stand a chance," said Bloom.

"Yeah, you guys will all get stomped," said Stella. "Snookums, come back to the ship with us."

"I'll be fine Stella," he told her. "But you girls have to get back to the ship."

"It's all right, we'll be fine," said Jason. "But you have to save what's left of your strength."

"Get ready to run when we tell you to," said Riven, holding his sword in the ready position, showing he was as ready for a fight as any of them.

"Go!" yelled Sky. He, Brandon, Riven, Jason and Andrew all jumped into the fray, taking out the guards that were closest to their escape route so the girls could get away. Timmy and Carlos helped them out and once the coast was clear, the girls all made a dash for the ship. Helia picked Flora up again and ran for it too. Whenever one of the guards made it away from the other boys and came after them, one of the girls was able to shoot a spell back at them that stopped them dead in their tracks. But it was getting harder and harder to stay powered up and they knew they couldn't hold the villains off much longer. The witches knew that too, for they reappeared, just as the group was almost back to the ship.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Icy.

"If you're thinking of leaving, you can forget about it," said Darcy.

"Yeah, we've got other plans for you pixies," said Stormy.

"That is it!" yelled Musa. "Sound Blast!" She and the rest of the girls attacked the witches with what was left of their powers. Carlos stayed to help the girls fight, while Timmy and Helia ran for the ship. What they were counting on was the witches keeping totally concentrated on fighting the fairies, so they wouldn't notice the two of them trying to get away with one fairy in tow. But they weren't quite so lucky in that respect.

"Not so fast!" yelled Icy. She fired a series of ice crystals at Helia and he fell to the ground when several of them hit him in the legs. He gasped when he felt Flora roll out of his arms. He started to crawl over to her when a layer of ice started to spread over her. Within a few seconds, it had covered her entire body.

"No Flora!" yelled Helia.

Stella tried to fly over and melt the ice, but she found Darcy blocking her. "You're not going anywhere."

Suddenly, the witches were blown aside as a large gust of wind came shooting past them. Timmy had made it back to the ship and was ready to get the girls out of there. He opened the hatch so the others could get on and make it to safety. The rest of the boys came running up at that moment, all out of breath and panting, but with no guards following them.

"We managed to beat them, but they'll be back," said Jason. "Everyone on the ship!"

"Not just yet!" said Stella. She held her staff over Flora and in seconds, had melted the ice off of the flower fairy. Helia took her in his arms and carried her back to the ship. The poor girl was shivering and was having trouble breathing. But the other downside to that was that Stella used up the last of her Winx doing that. She powered down and fell to the ground and couldn't get back up.

"Stella!" yelled Brandon. "I'm coming!" He reached her a second later and picked her up in his arms. They all gathered inside the ship and as soon as they did, most of the girls powered down their Winx and fell to the floor, all of them exhausted. The only ones that stayed powered up were Layla and Musa. Riven and Sky joined Timmy at the controls and started to fly the ship out of Fergal. But they got another unexpected and unwelcome surprise when Nezaro decided to complicate their escape.

**Author's Note:** All right, so we have the good guys trying to make their escape and we have Nezaro making things difficult for them. You just knew he'd do that. Bad guys always do that. So again, sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter out, but I hope you enjoyed it. Next one is going to see the gang returning to Tides and visit a place that was part of Layla's childhood. But I'm not giving you more details than that. Stay tuned!


	9. The Crystal Cave

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! I think this is the fastest I've been able to update this story. So we have this chapter left and probably two others and that'll be the end of Quest for Power Series 5. I hope you all are enjoying it. We're going to have the girls defeat Nezaro in the next couple chapters and the last chapter is going to have the girls talking about the journal and start putting all the pieces together on this mess they're in. But for now, let's get back to their escape from Fergal. Happy reading!

**Chapter 9: The Crystal Cave**

Several large blasts hit the ship and it spun off course. Everyone tumbled to the floor as Riven, Sky and Timmy struggled to regain control of the ship.

"Is everyone ok?" asked Sky.

"What was that?" asked Andrew.

"Nezaro," said Layla. She looked out the window and saw he was following them. He was absolutely livid, his face contorted into a look of rage beyond anything she had ever seen in her life. His eyes had turned black, his teeth were bared so he looked something like a wolf chasing its prey, and he was attacking the ship with everything he had.

"You're not getting away," he yelled so they all could hear him. "Blodare retakna selandoza!"

Suddenly, the ship began to veer off course, forcing everyone to grab onto something, just so they could stay on their feet. Timmy pressed a few buttons on the control board to see if he could figure out what was wrong, but let out a huge gasp when he found out what it was.

"Oh no!" he said. "He's fixed it so we can't get back to Magix! And you girls have to get back to Alfea to replenish your Winx!"

"Then set a course for Tides!" said Layla.

"What?" said Brandon.

"I can regenerate my powers there and I know a hiding place where we can think up a plan," said Layla. "Just get us back there and I'll handle the rest. Do it!"

"You heard her, move it!" yelled Jason, giving Timmy a slap on the back to make him do what she said.

"Before we do anything, we've got to shake Nezaro off!" said Brandon.

"Open the hatch!" said Layla. "I'm going out there."

"Layla no!" yelled Jason. "He's too strong!"

But he should've known that Layla was too stubborn to listen to him and she definitely wasn't listening now. Adding the fact that she was still in her Winx form meant that she was more than willing to fight this guy off. With a quick unlocking and opening spell, she was able to force the hatch open and with that, she flew outside.

"Tidal Wave!" she yelled. Fortunately for her, she had more power left than either of them had counted on. The attack hit Nezaro hard and he stopped attacking the ship, which was the good news. The bad news was that he decided to focus on recapturing her instead.

"I'll make you a deal Layla," he said. "If you come with me, I'll leave your friends alone. What do you say?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you and I'm not letting you anywhere near my friends!" she yelled angrily. She knew better than to trust his word on that. There was no way of guaranteeing that he'd let her friends go after she agreed to that. She let out a powerful scream and attacked even harder. But it wasn't enough to defeat Nezaro. He was about to go after her again when a rush of sound hit him full on and he was forced to cover his ears against the noise. Musa had come out to help Layla.

"Are you okay?" she called over to her friend.

"Fine, what about you?" Layla called back.

"I'm fine," said Musa. "You're not the only one with power to spare."

"No, you aren't," said Nezaro, flying back up towards them.

"Sound Blast!" said Musa, who was sick and tired of this madman terrorizing her friends. She and Layla attacked together, Musa using all the power of her realm on Nezaro. It seemed to hold him back a bit, but he wasn't out of energy and they both knew it.

"What do we do now?" asked Layla, as Nezaro began to advance on them again.

"Cover your ears, Layla!" said Musa, determination burning in her eyes. Layla didn't ask questions, she just did as her friend said, casting a spell that would protect her ears more than her hands would. Musa flexed her fingers, then stretched them out in front of her and closed her eyes. Sound vibrations began to resonate all across the immediate vicinity, vibrations so loud they could shatter an elephant's eardrums. The others on the ship, who had had no warning that Musa was going to do so such a thing, all had to cover their ears as they heard the loud noise she was making. Bloom cast a quick spell so their hearing was protected, but their ears were still ringing minutes afterward.

Musa looked down at Nezaro and saw that he had his hands over his ears, his face scrunched up in pain. She stopped casting the spell, but the sound continued. Knowing they had only a matter of seconds before it wore off completely, she and Layla flew back towards the ship. They entered the hatch and it shut behind them. The two girls both pitched forward, falling to the ground exhausted. Luckily, their boyfriends were standing there ready to catch them.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," said Jason, hugging Layla tightly.

"Same goes for you Musa," said Riven, helping her to stand up.

"Relax, we're fine," said Layla. "How're the rest of you guys doing?"

"Exhausted, but we'll live," replied Bloom, who was trying to stand, but her knees wouldn't support her. Sky was standing by her with a hand on her shoulder, pretty much to keep her in the chair she was sitting in. She looked at him with an expression that was half exasperated and half grateful, as though she wanted to convince him that she was fine but at the same time, she was glad that he was there looking after her.

Layla breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that they had left the Realm of Fergal behind them. She transformed back to her normal self and tried to relax as the ship entered Tides. They looked over Layla's realm and saw about a medium-sized city, with tons of beaches and a shining palace by the sea. It didn't take long for them to realize that most of the population in Tides lived underwater. They could see the mermaids swimming just beneath the surface.

"Wow Layla," said Guinevere. "Tides is so beautiful."

"I know, I love it," said Layla, gazing fondly at her realm.

"Where should we land?" asked Timmy, looking for a clearing to leave the ship in.

"Over there, on that beach," said Layla, pointing to a beach, pretty far from the palace. Timmy and Brandon did as she said and landed the ship on the beach she had pointed out to them. When they exited the ship, Layla immediately dashed into the water, quickly disappearing into the deep blue depths. After a moment, she reappeared and said, "okay, the elite mermaid guard is nowhere to be seen. At the moment, the fewer people who know we're here the better. Now hold still. I'm going to create an air bubble around you guys."

"You don't mean that this hiding place of yours is underwater?" asked Carlos.

"Of course it is, where did you expect it to be?" asked Layla, with a look that clearly said, "why are you surprised?"

"Somewhere on dry land, that's where," said Carlos indignantly.

Layla rolled her eyes and said a small spell. A large bubble appeared around the rest of the group, promising them fresh oxygen.

"What about you?" asked Jason, gazing at her worriedly.

"I'll be fine, I can breathe underwater," said Layla. "The bubble is going to be set to follow me, so all you have to do is wait a few minutes, until I reach the hiding spot. Come on!"

She dived back underwater again and the rest of the group suddenly felt them moving into the water. Within a few seconds, they were completely submerged. Layla swam as fast as she could towards a rock wall. None of them could see what was so special about it at first, but then they saw a small opening hidden by some particularly jagged rocks. She swam directly in between the rocks and into the opening of a tunnel. They floated through the tunnel for several minutes, all wondering when they were going to reach Layla's hiding place. After a few minutes, the air bubble reached the surface and they were carried back to shore. They were in a large, circular cave, filled with hundreds upon hundreds of crystals, of all different shapes, sizes and colors. The place was huge, about 150 feet high, with a hole in the ceiling, light from the sunset streaming into it.

"Oh my gosh, Layla," said Nirvana. "This place is amazing!"

"It gets even better," said Layla smiling. "Just watch."

They waited for a moment, then one of the rays from the sunset hit one of the crystals just right. It bounced off that crystal onto another, then another, creating a chain reaction of light beams that spread over the entire cave. They arched over the roof of the cave and showers of red and gold shone above the group, as though they were looking at a sunset.

"Spectacular," whispered Guinevere.

"Glorious," echoed Nirvana. The rest were all speechless.

"It's my favorite spot in the entire realm," said Layla. "I come here all the time, especially when I need to think."

"And it's the perfect place for us to get some sleep," said Brandon, yawning, ruining the picture perfect moment they'd all been having. But they had to admit, he was right. They were all yawning and their eyes were getting droopy. None of the girls felt well either, but they took for granted that the spell from Fergal was wearing off little by little now that they were in a different realm.

"A little sleep sounds great," said Musa.

"Then, why don't you girls rest up," said Sky. "We'll stand guard here."

Bloom conjured some blankets out of thin air and the girls all lied down on the floor, and wrapped themselves up. They were all asleep within a few minutes. Helia set Flora down on the floor, covered her up and kissed her on the cheek. He was tired too, and instead of going back to join the guys, he fell asleep next to her. Brandon set Stella down as well, and stayed up for awhile watching her, but fell asleep as well. None of the boy's could deny they were tired. They found the most comfortable spots they could and fell asleep too.

--------------

Layla was the first one up the next morning. She saw the rest of the girls sleeping peacefully, and the boys sleeping fairly close to the water. She walked to the water's edge, took her shoes off and let her feet dangle in the water. She closed her eyes and gave a small sigh; she always found it very relaxing to just sit by the water like this.

"Are you ok?" came a whisper. It was Jason. He sat down next to her and put his arm around her.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm just glad we got out of Fergal when we did."

"Me too," said Jason. "I don't ever want to go back there again."

"I don't think any of us do," said Layla. "I want to get rid of Nezaro once and for all and pretend none of this ever happened. If I could, I'd go back in time and keep myself from going to Ariel's wedding so I wouldn't get in this mess."

"You can't," said Jason.

"I know," said Layla. "But it doesn't change the fact that I want to."

"Layla, everyone does things they regret," said Jason. "Then, they think it's all over for them. But then something happens, one little miracle, and before they know it, everything's all right again. That's what's happened with just about every mission we've been on and it'll keep happening. We'll beat him. We'll get out of this safe and sound, you'll see."

"Thank you Jason," she said. They leaned in close and were about to kiss each other, when they heard someone groaning. The others were starting to wake up. Layla was a little disappointed that a romantic moment between her and Jason had been ruined and also couldn't deny that she'd wanted to kiss him. By the look on Jason's face, he was upset too.

Over the next fifteen minutes, the group gradually woke up, the girls still a little weary from what had happened. The boys sat by them and watched them anxiously. One by one, they rose and said they were fine, though none were 100% fine. But things went downhill very quickly, when Stella and Flora didn't wake up. They were the only ones who hadn't recovered from the previous night. Brandon and Helia tried to shake them awake, but they didn't respond.

"Why won't she wake up?" asked Helia, gazing at Flora worriedly. "We didn't leave the realm too late, did we?"

"I don't think so," said Bloom. "And she wasn't in the ice coffin long enough for it to do any damage. And Stella had more power than Flora did when we left Fergal so we couldn't have left too late for her. I guess the spell on the realm took more out of them than we thought. Maybe we should let them rest a little more."

"In the meantime, what do we do about breakfast?" asked Riven. "I'm starving!"

"Riven!" said Musa indignantly. "How can you be thinking about food at a time like this?"

"Easy when you're hungry enough to eat a dragon," replied Riven, glaring at her.

"What are you in the mood for?" asked Nirvana. "I can conjure up anything you want in a few seconds." Everyone started telling her what they wanted to eat and she conjured enough food to feed all of Alfea. They ate as though they'd never eaten before, which was easy considering they hadn't ate since the previous morning before arriving at Cloud Tower to help Layla.

"Here, save this for Flora and Stella," said Bloom. She still hadn't woken up.

"I say it's time we tried some sort of spell," said Musa. "I mean, if they doesn't wake up soon, we're gonna have to do something."

"You're right Musa," said Tecna. "They definitely should have been awake by now."

Nirvana put a hand on Flora's forehead and said, "Flora's got a pretty high fever. I'm betting by the way Stella's sweating, she's got one too. I suppose there's nothing to do but what until it breaks."

"That could take days, we don't have days. We don't even have hours," said Guinevere. "We have to do something now."

"Yeah, but what?" asked Nirvana.

"Do you girls know a spell or a potion or something?" asked Sky.

"Did you guys bring any medicine off the ship with you?" asked Bloom. None of the guys answered her. They all looked in other directions.

"I guess that means no," said Musa.

"If we were on Angelicas, I could make a potion for them," said Nirvana. "I have this huge closet pack to brim with potion ingredients. Give me that and a cauldron, and I'd have them both as good as new in no time."

"The problem is we're not on Angelicas," said Bloom.

Tecna did a quick scan of Flora and Stella with her computer to see if she could find out what was wrong. The answer she got was definitely not the one she wanted to find. "Oh no, the spell from Fergal is still plaguing them! Wait a second. It's still plaguing all of us. It could take effect again at any time!"

"I do feel a little weird now that I think about it," said Musa and all the rest of the girls agreed that they weren't feeling well either. This made the boys exchange very worried glances.

"How can that be though? I thought everything would be all right when we left," said Guinevere.

"It was supposed to break when we left, but Nezaro put so much force on it that it didn't," said Tecna. "It's progressed on all of us enough to stay strong. The only way to break it is to defeat Nezaro, else it'll still claim all our lives." They were all really scared by this time. None of the girls were ready to die and none of the boys wanted to lose them. If the girls died, they guys all knew they wouldn't be able to get over it.

"Layla, what's the matter with you?" asked Musa suddenly. They looked at her and saw that she was pacing back and forth across the cave. She had a very pensive look on her face, like she didn't want to be disturbed. She was pacing so much, they thought she was going to wear a hole in the floor. She didn't answer at first.

"Hey Layla, you want to talk to us here!" said Musa raising her voice to her friend.

"Don't bother me Musa, I'm trying to think," she said. She kept pacing back and forth, racking her brain for an idea. She knew there were ways on Tides to heal people that couldn't be done elsewhere, but now they had all decided to play a game of hide and seek inside her mind. It was driving her crazy that she couldn't find any little tidbit of information that could possibly help them. Her eyes fell on the roof of the cave, where the morning sunshine was streaming in, then it was as though a light bulb had clicked on inside her head. She said, "I'll be back in a little bit. I know someone who can help us."

"Where are you going Layla?" asked Jason.

"Just trust me," said Layla. "Aquarias oxsisana." She dived into the water and swam for the mermaid kingdom under the sea. What she didn't know was that the instant she left, the girls all cried out in pain and fell to their hands and knees.

"Bloom, what's the matter?" asked Sky, gently picking her up in his arms.

"It's Nezaro," she managed to croak out. "He's rekindled the power of that spell."

"You mean he's found us?" asked Helia, not taking his eyes off Flora, who was shaking badly.

"He must have," said Brandon. "Either he's here somewhere or he just cast the spell on the girls to subdue them until he gets here. I'll bet anything he's on his way right now. All he is to do is follow the trail of energy that's slowly ebbing out of the girls."

"Oh great, he'll be here in a heartbeat if this keeps up," said Riven, who wasn't looking forward to facing Nezaro without a bit of magical reinforcements behind him.

"It's probably a good thing Layla got out when she did," said Jason. "If she were here, she'd be writhing in pain too. Let's just hope she can get back with help in time."

"Amen to that," said Carlos, who had Nirvana cradled against his chest.

-----------

Not knowing what was happening in the underwater cave, Layla swam as fast as she could towards the mermaid kingdom. It was difficult because she had to take great pains not to be seen. She had a sneaking suspicion her parents had given the elite mermaid guard orders to be on the lookout for her in case she came back. She darted in between the rocks until she came to a meeting place she used when she and Cyrene went swimming. Luckily for her, Cyrene was there and was as deep in thought as Layla was. When she heard the sound of water rushing around her, which could only mean someone was coming, she looked up and was shocked to see the Princess of Tides swimming quickly towards her. Fortunately, she had enough sense not to scream out her name when she saw her, which would've attracted immediate trouble.

"Layla?" whispered Cyrene, her voice fraught with surprise and shock. "How did you get back here? Or more importantly, _why_ did you come back here?"

"It's a long story Cyrene," said Layla. "There's no time to explain. My friends are in trouble. Can you get Queen Ligea please?"

"Layla, if I do that, they'll know you're back here or at least suspect something," said Cyrene. "Your parents have sent people scouring the entire realm for you. If Ariel weren't on her honeymoon, they'd be badgering her, trying to find out your whereabouts. The elite mermaid guard has been given strict orders to keep an eye out for you. The ones that helped you escape are willing to keep silent for you, but if any others catch you, it's over. They'll take you back to your parents and you'll be sent right into Nezaro's hands."

"I don't care about Nezaro at the moment," said Layla. "All I care about is when I was on Fergal, my friends got sick, very badly sick. They need help and Queen Ligea is the only one who can help. But we need to do it fast, because the sunlight will be streaming over the crystal cave in a few minutes and we need sunlight in order for her magic staff to work."

"All right, stay here, I'll go and get her," said Cyrene, but Layla knew her friend was having doubts about the success of this plan. Layla concealed herself in between several narrow rocks and waited for Cyrene to return with the Mermaid Queen. After a few minutes, she heard Cyrene calling her name. Layla swam back out and saw Cyrene, with Queen Ligea behind her.

"Layla, what has been going on?" asked Queen Ligea. "Your mother told me that if any of us were to have seen you, we were supposed to take you back to her right away. I'm not going to of course, I want to know the full story first. But what is it you need my help with?"

"It's my friends from Alfea," said Layla. "They've been put under a spell and had to go through a lot yesterday, but the point is they're very sick. It's a disease that came to us when we were in Fergal yesterday. I've got it too. If we don't do something, all my friends will die and I'll go along with them. Please help us, Queen Ligea. I owe this to them. They came to Fergal to save me, I have to do something to save them."

Queen Ligea smiled and said, "that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Where are they?"

"Follow me, hurry!" said Layla. They swam back towards the sea cave, as fast as they could. As they got closer to the cave, Layla began to feel herself getting weaker, and knew Nezaro was on the move again. She sank a few feet before allowing Cyrene to help her. She didn't say anything, but she knew what was going on, which only pushed her to swim faster. They swam through the tunnel and back up inside the cave, where the others were waiting.

"Layla, thank goodness," said Jason, when he finally saw her head break the surface of the water. He pulled her on shore and continued, "We were getting worried. I thought I told you to quit scaring me."

"Part of life is being scared from time to time, Jason," said Layla, breathing very heavily.

"Who are your friends, Layla?" asked Andrew.

"This is Queen Ligea, the Mermaid Queen and a good friend of mine Cyrene. How's everyone doing?" asked Layla.

"Look at them," said Helia, taking his eyes off Flora for the first time that entire morning.

Layla gasped when she saw they'd all fainted. "What happened to them?" she asked.

"The spell reared its ugly head again," said Jason.

Layla couldn't deny that she was feeling very weak and dizzy too and she knew she didn't have much time left either. "We have to do something right now. That's why I brought Queen Ligea."

"You can save them?" asked Carlos hopefully.

"Yes," said Queen Ligea, holding up her magic staff. "The coral gem in my staff has healing powers. All it needs is light from a sunset and it can heal anyone. But it'll be hard to focus the sun's rays in here."

"Oh no!" said Layla. "It needs a sunset, it's only midmorning!"

"I don't think they'll hold until the end of the day," said Andrew, looking down at Guinevere's huddled form.

"Can you create me an artificial sunset?" asked Queen Ligea. "The gem won't know the difference as long as it has the sun's rays focused inside of it."

"Maybe, hold on," said Layla. And she dove back down into the water and swam to the bottom of the cave. Down at the bottom was a type of crystal that didn't grow in the portion above the surface. She searched for a few minutes and finally found one. She grabbed it and swam back up to the surface. When she got there, she transformed, which took several minutes because she was so tired, and flew up to the ceiling.

"What are you doing Layla?" asked Jason.

"Using this crystal to make an artificial sunset and help the girls," she replied. "It's a twilight crystal. If you hold it up to the light, no matter what time of day it is, it'll mimic the sun's rays at dusk." The boy's all looked interested at the idea of creating a sunset at any time of day, thinking it would be good for providing a romantic setting for a date sometime. Layla held the crystal up to the light and the sunlight focused through the prism. She didn't need to point the light at another crystal and create a chain reaction this time. Just passing through the crystal made the light change color and suddenly, the cave was filled with red and gold, exactly as it had been the night before. The rays shown down on them and Queen Ligea held her staff out. Not knowing the difference, the coral gem in it shone brightly and beams of light shot out of it, hitting each of the girls.

"Did it work?" asked Timmy, leaning over Tecna.

"We'll find out in a minute, be patient," said Riven. But even he didn't like that choice of words. He was worried sick about Musa.

They waited for a moment, a moment which seemed to last as long as eternity. Then, the color returned to the girl's skin and they all took deep breaths, before opening their eyes. They all began to ask questions like, "what's going on?" and "what happened?" and the boy's just swept them up and hugged them tightly. Layla drifted back to the ground and into Jason's arms. He held her close and whispered in her ear, "great job!" She smiled at him gratefully.

Flora, with Helia's help even though she was feeling much better, walked over to Queen Ligea and said, "thank you for saving us."

"Thank Layla," said Queen Ligea. "She was the one who came to get me, at great risk to herself, I might add."

"What do you mean?" asked Jason. Cyrene and Queen Ligea explained to them what they'd explained to Layla.

"Do the guards know about this place?" asked Sky.

"Not that I know of," replied Queen Ligea. "This is the first I've heard of it."

Jason was about to ask her something when they heard a loud noise coming from above the crystal cavern. Layla flew back up to the skylight and looked around. What she saw made her gasp and groan pretty much at the same time.

**Author's Note:** All right, so we have the spell broken and all the girls recovered. Yeah! But we have something else happening in Tides that we know has to do with Nezaro. Boo! And was that a cliffhanger or what? I'm not telling you what's happening until the next chapter. The only way to find out is to keep reading. Stay tuned!


	10. The Power of the Crystals

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this back up, but this semester in school is awful when it comes to homework. They give me like 100 pages worth of reading every night and pretty soon the papers are going to start. *Sigh* It's going to be a long four months 'til the summer. Anyway, when we left off, the girls escaped from Fergal, made it back to Tides and were resting in a crystal cave. In this chapter, we have the final battle and then there's going to be one more chapter after that, but it's mostly going to be discussion and information as a transition to lead into the next story. I even just now added a little something extra to the battle sequence that I hadn't ever thought I'd write. Happy reading!

**Chapter 10: The Power of the Crystals**

Layla gasped as she saw that Nezaro was attacking her realm with everything he had, firing energy blasts at the people on the beach, attacking the mermaids, laying siege on the palace. She wanted to fly out of the cave on her own and give Nezaro a piece of her mind, but she knew that wasn't a good idea. Even if he wasn't on Fergal, where he was strongest, he was still strong enough to take her down with a flick of his hand. She flew back down to the rest of the group, a look of both fear and anger, mostly anger, on her face.

"It's Nezaro again!" she said. "He's attacking the entire realm!"

"Doesn't that guy ever give up?" asked Guinevere.

"He's a villain, what kind of villain gives up without a fight?" asked Brandon.

"Not helping, Brandon," said Stella testily.

"How do we stop him?" asked Nirvana.

"If you girls distract him, we can get the people to safety," said Sky, gesturing at himself and the rest of the heroes.

"That'll just give us something to do, Sky," said Riven. "That doesn't answer the question of actually defeating him." He shut up quickly though when he saw the angry glare Musa was giving him, which told him that comment wasn't helping things any. The rest of the guys had to admit he had a point though. They were always on the ground while the fairies were up in the air fighting all these wizards and warlocks. Swords were of no use against the magic that wizards such as Lord Darkar and the rest of the villains they'd faced possessed. And one thing all the guys hated was that they were helpless against these guys and the girls always had to find a way to defeat them on their own.

"Queen Ligea, you'd better get back to your kingdom," said Layla. "Cyrene, can you get her back there safely."

"Of course," said Cyrene. The two mermaids disappeared beneath the surface of the water after wishing them all good luck. Layla had a feeling that Queen Ligea was going to assemble the elite mermaid guard to try and help them, but she doubted it'd do much good. Nezaro was too powerful to be stopped by a group of mermaids, even they could use some magic against him. It was up to them, just as it always had been and always would be.

"Does he know where we are exactly?" asked Andrew, his gaze drifting worriedly towards Guinevere.

"I don't think so," said Layla. "I think he's just attacking the realm to try and flush us out of hiding. He knows we're here somewhere, he just doesn't want to take the time and energy to come looking for us."

"Do you think we can wait a few minutes to face him?" asked Timmy. "You girls still haven't fully recovered from the trip to Fergal."

"We don't have any time to waste," said Tecna angrily. "You can hear it up there, Timmy. Innocent people are in danger and we're the only ones who have a chance to beat him." A large blast at that point made the cave reverberate with sound; it was lucky some of the crystals didn't come loose from their positions. The place was shaking so badly that most of the girls weren't able to keep their balance and had to grab onto the guys for support. It was hard for them to keep on their feet as well. That was all it took to tell them that Nezaro would be on top of them any second and if he found them there, in their normal forms talking strategy, it'd be even worse than if they just flew up there and faced him head on.

"We don't have a choice," said Musa. "We're going to have fight whether we're at full strength or not."

"You girls can't just go up there without a plan," said Sky.

"We don't have time for a plan," said Layla. "That creep is destroying my realm! If I don't get up there and defend my people, I'll go crazy!"

"But…" Sky began to protest, but Bloom put a finger over his lips to quiet him and began speaking.

"Sky, sometimes the best thing is just to wing it and see what happens and don't try to argue with us, because it won't do any good," she said. "We'll be fine, we promise." Turning to the girls, she said, "Now let's get up there and take him down!"

The boys couldn't get another word in at all. In a second, the girls had all transformed and were flying up to the skylight, gathering their courage and what strength they'd regained, which wasn't much. They were all nervous about how little energy they all had, but they knew it'd just have to do. But all had the feeling in the pit of their stomachs that it wouldn't be enough.

When they reached the exit of the cave, the first thing they saw was Nezaro attacking the homes and people closest to the palace. The guards were trying to stop him and Layla could also see her parents rushing in to help. Her mom, having attended Alfea in her youth, knew several spells that could be used in self-defense, but it wasn't enough to defeat her foe. Nothing she tried worked.

Nezaro laughed in her face and said, "what's the matter, Your Majesty? Don't have the strength to fight me? You're the queen. Aren't you supposed to use the power of this realm to fight me?"

Queen Lyra bit her lip in frustration, hoping Nezaro couldn't sense how scared she was. The problem was that she didn't have the power of the realm anymore. One of the duties of the queen is to see that said power passes on to the heir to the throne when it's time. About a week before Ariel's wedding, she had sensed it was time for the power to pass on to Layla and had hidden it away, also knowing that someone was going to try and steal it. She had put it in a secret place, where she knew it would be safe from any evil and in a place where only Layla would be able to retrieve it.

"Don't have an answer for me?" asked Nezaro in a voice of mock hurt. "Isn't it only polite to answer a gentleman when he asks a question?"

"You're not what I'd call a gentleman, Nezaro," she replied bitterly, before raising her hand to cast a spell on him. He deflected it with a flick of his hand.

"Is that all you've got?" he asked her mockingly. "Shadow Blast!"

Queen Lyra tried to block the attack, but he was too strong for her. She fell back to the ground, the king kneeling down next to her, both unable to do anything to stop him. This was what really set Layla off.

"That is it!" yelled Layla, getting really fired up. "No one attacks my mother!"

She flew towards Nezaro, her hand raised with an energy ball beginning to form in it. She thought that because her enemy had his back turned to her, she might be able to sneak up on him. But unfortunately, the man had ears like a bat and heard her coming while she was still yards away.

"There you are Layla," he said, making her stop out of shock. With his back still turned to her, he continued, "I'm willing to cut you another deal. If you'll come back to Fergal with me, I swear I'll leave your friends and your realm alone. What do you say to that?"

"When I get through with you, not only will you leave my friends and my realm alone, but the last thing you'll want to do is try to force me down the aisle," said Layla.

"Has she always been this stubborn?" he asked himself. Then, turning towards her, he said, "Layla, haven't you had enough of this?"

"I've had enough of you!" she yelled.

"It won't last for long," said Nezaro, in what was supposed to be a pacifying voice, but being a villain, he didn't really know how to be pacifying. "One week in Fergal with me, that's all you'll have before the spell does its work. It's really not that long and besides, once you get used to Fergal, it actually is a cozy, little place to live."

"What part of 'I'm not coming with you' do you not seem to understand?" asked Layla. "I'm not going back to Fergal, I'm not going to marry you and you're not getting my powers! Has any of this managed to penetrate that thick skull of yours?"

"This is what I hate about women," said Nezaro to himself. "They only hear what they want to hear and if they don't hear it, then they manipulate it, so they do hear it. This is why I'm getting rid of her and never finding a real wife for myself."

He turned his attention back to the fact that Layla was about to attack again. She raised her hand and flung at him one of her Aquarius Current attacks. He just flicked his wrist and the ball of energy was sent flying into the water. She tried again, but he did the same thing.

"How am I supposed to defeat him?" she asked.

"Sound Blast!" yelled Musa, appearing at Layla's side. While the attack didn't weaken Nezaro in the way of power, it did hinder him physically. He was forced to cover his ears against the sound of the music, allowing for the other girls to jump in and help their friend.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Layla, who had flown ahead of the group out of the crystal cave.

"We're still recovering from that spell," said Flora, who had her arm around her stomach as though in pain, which she probably was. "You're the only one who didn't fall victim to it while in that cave, so you're the strongest and the fastest of all of us right now."

"If you're through with your little gab fest," said Nezaro, rubbing his ears and wincing a little. But he was interrupted when he saw that Bloom and Stella were raising their hands to attack.

"Dragon Blast!"

"Sun Blast!"

But as he had done before, he flicked his wrist and sent their attacks in the water.

"I thought that was pretty strong," said Stella, looking on in fear.

"But it's like Flora said, we're not at our full strength right now," said Bloom. "We have to find a way to defeat him, even though we're at a disadvantage."

The girls tried their best to fight him, but none of their attacks were strong enough to even make a dent. Flora could barely keep herself in the air, let alone use her power over nature to help them, Guinevere's diamond attacks didn't make it past a couple yards, Tecna didn't have the strength or the time to use technology to help them and even Nirvana's combination attack of Heaven's Charm and Angel's Light, which was a strong combo usually, wasn't enough to help them. And all four of them had the full power of their realms. But all lacked the strength to use it.

Musa was able to tap into a bit more of her power than her friends, but that was only because she had the ultimate power of her home as well. She still, however, couldn't use that power to its full potential. She could deafen her enemy, which gave the girls a few seconds to attack while he was distracted, but he got used to that tactic very quickly. He put a spell around himself to protect his ears from the music and to protect his eyes when Stella used her staff to try and blind him. The two of them used up most of their strength trying to weaken him so that Bloom and Layla could advance, but that wasn't working either.

Bloom had always been the most powerful fairy at Alfea and Layla wasn't far behind her in terms of strength, but since both were still recovering from the trip to Fergal, they tired more easily than they would normally. After a few more minutes of fighting, they both were breathing heavily and trying to stay airborne, but the more time that passed, the more they could feel their powers diminishing.

"We have to find cover and rest a bit," said Bloom, in between ragged breaths.

"We don't have time," said Layla, but she had to admit her friend had a point. "He'll follow us to our hiding spot and attack us there. He's not going to give us a chance to hide."

"Cover for me, you guys," said Nirvana. "I have an idea."

She flew forward a few feet and raised her hands. Nezaro couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"You're still not ready to give up?" he asked them. But he stopped when he saw that Nirvana wasn't attacking. She had crossed her arms over her heart, her hands balled up into fists were resting on her shoulders. Her eyes were closed and the look on her face was calm and serene as though she was meditating. He looked at her confusedly, wondering what she had up her sleeve now. A soft pink light began to form around her, very dull at first. After a minute or two, it started to strengthen in intensity until it was almost blinding. Nezaro, realizing too late what was happening, sent an attack at her, but it dimmed before it got anywhere close.

"What's happening to her?" asked Flora.

"She's doing something, but I'm not sure what," said Stella.

Guinevere's eyes widened as she realized. "What is she thinking?" she asked. "She's creating a blinding light. Those are very difficult and very dangerous, dangerous in that it's taxing on a fairy's strength and she could lose her powers if she builds it up too much. It'll be even more draining for her after what we've been through the last two days. But she has to be doing it to give us time to get out of here."

"What about her though?" asked Musa. "What'll happen to her if we fly for it?"

Guinevere didn't have time to answer for at that moment, Nirvana circled her arms around so that they were now stretching out on either side. She turned her palms around so that they were now facing Nezaro and two balls of pink energy formed in them. A stream of energy then shot out of them, flowing from her palms straight into Nezaro's eyes. There was nothing he could do to protect himself. A blinding light was one of few spells that there was no protection spell for.

"It burns!" he yelled, trying to cover his eyes but when he brought his hands up to shield them, the light burned his hands as well.

Nirvana then closed her palms and the energy stopped flowing from them, but there were still a few more seconds in which the stream of energy would continue to flow into Nezaro's eyes. That was their chance. The girls flew with all the strength they had left back to the cave. They flew down through the sun shaft, rejoining the boys who had spent the last few minutes wondering what the heck had been going on. The girls all flew back down to the cave floor and into their boyfriend's waiting arms. Nirvana managed to make it inside the cave before she lost what was left of her stamina. She was halfway to the ground, then her powers gave out on her. She powered down and fell the rest of the way, losing consciousness as well. Carlos caught her in his arms, but he knew from the amount of energy that was still radiating off of her, she wouldn't wake up for awhile.

"Is Nezaro going to be able to follow us, do you think?" asked Stella.

"With what Nirvana just did to his eyes, not a chance," said Musa, who was doubled over trying to get her breath back.

"What'd she do?" asked Carlos, glancing up for one second at them.

"She blinded him basically," said Guinevere. "I've heard of desperate times calling for desperate measures, but this was pushing it." Seeing the boys confused looks, she explained about the after effects of the spell. "Don't worry, she didn't lose her powers, I can tell she didn't," she said to Carlos, who had gone as pale as Nirvana was now. "But it was close. If she had put a little bit more of her power into that spell, she would've."

"How long will he be blind?" asked Layla, thinking of how much time they had before Nezaro regained his eyesight.

"Again, it depends on how much power she put into it," replied Guinevere. "The ones that only had a few seconds worth of power put in usually only blind victims for a couple hours. The stronger ones last for days, sometimes weeks. The most powerful ones are a) when the person casting the spell loses their powers and b) when the one on the receiving end goes blind permanently. There's no counter spell, the eyes have to heal on their own. And judging from how much power she did put in there, he might very well be blind forever. It's going to last a few months at the very least."

There was a moment of silence as they all processed that information.

"Look on the bright side, it'll be harder for him to find us if he can't see us," said Brandon.

"It might not be as hard as you think," said Bloom, remembering something she'd read on Earth and starting to get a little scared again. "When one goes blind, the rest of the senses, especially hearing, is twice as sharp. He might be able to hear us talking right now."

"That I can," said an angry voice from above them. Nezaro hovered down inside the cave, looking even scarier and more demented than he had before. His eyes were a pale, milky color, like his pupils and his irises had just disappeared altogether, which made the extremely angry look on his face that much more frightening. Timmy took a small step back out of shock, his feet just barely hitting the stone floor of the cave, but that was all Nezaro needed. The small sound that none of the others heard rang through their enemy's ears and he fired an energy blast straight at Timmy. He managed to jump out of the way, but it was a close call.

"Just because I can't see you, that doesn't mean I can't still fight back," he said, firing another blast at Bloom and Sky. One advantage they did have was that even though he could hear where they were moving and fire at them then, he had no way of knowing who he was attacking, so that gave the others time to prepare a sneak attack on them. Unfortunately, his hearing was so good now that he could hear the girls' wings fluttering around him and it didn't take him long to learn which wing patterns belonged to which girl. And they could all tell he was growing very tired of their game.

He turned to face Layla and said, "enough is enough." He raised his hand towards her, but then stopped, and a minute later, it became clear what had stopped him. Sunlight had poured down into the cave and beams of light were bouncing off the crystals. Even though he couldn't see it, Nezaro could feel the sunlight streaming in and he could feel the effects of what it was doing. The sun's rays were getting larger and stronger as they bounced from one crystal to another. Then they bounced off the last one and a large beam of light soared towards Layla. The beam was the color of the oceans of Tides and they could even see holographic waves reflected in it. It hit the water fairy and she rose off the floor, entranced in the beam's power. She floated up to the very center of the cave and a great ball of blue-green light formed around her, growing so strong that everyone had to shut their eyes against it, even Nezaro.

"What's happening to her?" asked Jason.

But they all knew what was happening. The Power of Tides had been hidden in the crystal cave, hidden within the crystals themselves and as the light bounced off them, it had grown stronger. When it reached its full power, it had gone towards the princess, the girl it knew it belonged to. The light dimmed and they all looked up at Layla. She was glowing, a blue-green light shimmered around her and her power had magnified by a thousand. The Power of Tides was hers at last.

Nezaro suddenly laughed out loud. "Well, after watching that little scene, so to speak, stealing your powers will be that much more entertaining," said Nezaro. He could feel the power rolling off her in volumes, which told him exactly what had just happened to her. He sent a strong attack at her, but it didn't even get close. A large shield, made of a wall of water formed around her, reducing the attack so it couldn't do any damage to anyone. He could tell it didn't work when he didn't hear her scream. Nezaro sent many other attacks at her, but they didn't do any good.

"Still think trying to mess with me is a good idea Nezaro?" asked Layla. "Tidal Wave!" Layla unleashed all her power into that one attack and it was at that moment that they all realized she'd won. Nezaro tried to block it, but the attack hit him and he hit the floor hard. Layla created several large balls of energy and fired them at him, to make sure he couldn't get up and attack her again. He fell to the ground unconscious and Layla transformed back into her normal self, landing in Jason's arms.

**Author's Note:** All right, so Nezaro has been defeated and everyone is safe. What did you think of Nirvana casting that spell on him? I just had to put that in there on the spur of the moment. For one thing, I needed an excuse for the girls to get back into the cave so Layla could get her full power from the crystals and Nirvana, who already had her full power, knew the best spell to get them there and was the only one able to cast it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it pays to have that girl around. So the next chapter, as previously stated, is just going to be a lead into the next story and it's going to have a fluffy little moment between Layla and Jason. Don't worry, it won't be too fluffy because Nabu is going to make his appearance in about three stories. Stay tuned!


	11. Relationships and Discussions

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this up and you all know my excuse by now, but I can't help it. I had three papers due last week and I have well over 100 pages of reading every night. I have a test and a presentation to give on the same day this week. It's going to be a nightmare. It's amazing that I've found the time to read through, edit and post the last chapter of this story. I haven't touched my Harry Potter story in months either and my new Twilight one is going pretty slowly too. I won't have time to work on any of them until the summer.

Anyways, when we left off Nezaro had just been defeated, Layla got her powers which were hidden in the crystal cave and Nirvana was unconscious because of the blinding light she used on Nezaro. This chapter is going to feature a discussion between Layla and Jason, one between Layla's parents and one about the journal discovered a few chapters ago. Happy reading!

**Chapter 11: Relationships and Discussions**

Layla took several deep breaths, trying to maintain what was left of her strength. She felt Jason's arms wrap securely around her and couldn't help but smile. He was always there for her, no matter what she needed.

"Are you okay, Layla?" asked Jason, worry written all over his face.

"A little tired, but other than that, I'm fine," she replied. "I feel like I could go to sleep right here and now."

"Don't go to sleep yet, not before you get us out of here," said Carlos, who was still holding Nirvana tightly in his embrace. The poor thing had gotten some color back in her face, but had yet to wake up. Carlos knew she would be angry later at missing the spectacle that had been Layla getting her power from the crystals, but she would have to settle for getting a secondhand account of it from him.

"I'll get us out of here," said Bloom. She raised her hands and performed a quick teleportation spell so that everyone in the cave was transported to the beach on the western shore of the palace. Layla's parents were standing out there waiting for them, worried looks on their faces.

"Layla," said Queen Lyra. Jason put Layla down, after making sure she was strong enough to stand up, and she walked over to her parents. Her mother gave her a huge hug as she realized what her daughter had been through over the course of the past week. "I'm so sorry, my dear. If we hadn't let Nezaro put a spell on us, this wouldn't have happened."

"It's all right, Mom," said Layla. "You weren't to know what he was doing, so it wasn't your fault. Everything's fine."

"And we'll make sure you don't have to worry about Nezaro again," said King Aquarius. He snapped his fingers and some of the palace guards came up and took Nezaro by the arms.

"You just wait, I'll get you all for this!" he yelled as he was taken away. "I'll have your powers one day, Layla! And after I get them, I'll get my revenge on the one who did this to my eyes!" He continued yelling various threats at them even as he was led out of sight. Layla couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine. It was the same feeling she got when they defeated Rancor. He'd be back. At least she had the comfort of knowing that Nezaro and Paritho were both locked in dungeons where they couldn't do any harm, but Rancor's still being at large alarmed her greatly. He'd be after the girls soon enough and he'd try and rescue as many of his family members as he could. She tried to put it out of her mind, knowing that Jason and the rest of the boys would protect her and the others.

Suddenly, an idea popped in Layla's head. "Jason," she whispered. She ran back to the others, thinking to herself, "I've been wanting to do this for ages, now is the perfect time." She grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards her parents.

"Layla, what are you doing?" he asked her.

"Just trust me," she whispered. When they got back to her parents, she said, "Mom, Dad, this is Jason."

"So, you're the young man whose been protecting my little girl throughout this whole ordeal?" asked Queen Lyra.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Jason, a little nervously.

"Thank you," said the Queen. "Layla thinks very highly of you and I certainly see why."

"Moooooooooommmm," whined Layla, her face going really red. Jason just pretended he didn't notice, though he could tell the rest of the guys were all smirking at him. It took every ounce of self-control the girls had not to start giggling, but for Layla's sake, they kept quiet. They knew she didn't need to be embarrassed anymore than she already was.

Jason was relieved that Layla's mother seemed to like him all right. Her father was regarding him with a skeptical look. He was grateful to Jason for helping to save his daughter, that much was obvious, but Jason could also tell that the king wasn't sure this young boy was right for his daughter. He just hoped he could get King Aquarius' approval before too long.

The entire group invited them all inside the palace for food and a rest. Queen Lyra sent for a doctor to make sure that Nirvana was all right, and he came back with the news that she hadn't lost her powers and would be awake by morning. Everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief at that, especially Carlos.

That night, everyone was exhausted from the past few days adventures and went to bed fairly early. Everyone that is, except for Layla and Jason. Layla couldn't sleep and after a few hours, she decided to go for a walk outside the palace. She headed for the northern side; the beach out there provided the best view of the sea at night, where one could see all the stars and the moon. She sat down in the sand and looked out over the water and saw the moon reflected in the ripples of the surface. Just as she had done in the cave that morning, she slipped her shoes off and let her feet dangle in the water. She giggled as she felt a couple of fish swim playfully around her feet. She thought about the past few days and was glad the adventure was over, but wondered what would happen next. She couldn't get the threat of Rancor still out there out of her mind. She had also noticed the way her father had been very indifferent towards Jason, even though her mother had seemed to have liked him. She wondered what that was about and got the distinct impression that her father was up to something.

"How come you're up so late?" came a voice from behind her. She turned around and saw Jason walking towards her.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Layla.

"I couldn't sleep," said Jason. "I'm guessing you couldn't either. I saw you coming down here and wondered if you were all right. Judging by the look on your face, I think you need someone to talk to."

"A little chat sounds good," said Layla.

"So what's up?" asked Jason, sitting next to her.

"It's what my mom said earlier. I can't believe she actually told you 'I think very highly of you,' as she says. That was the most embarrassing situation I've ever been in." She decided not to mention the fact that she was worried about her father's reaction to him. She didn't want to bog his mind down with it as well, particularly since she was probably overreacting.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you saw the rest of the girl's faces. I can't believe she said that."

"I couldn't believe it at the time, but later after some thought, I was actually kind of glad she said it."

"You're kidding."

"I'm not," said Jason smiling. "When you told me you couldn't take me with you to Ariel's wedding, I thought at first you had made it up, but I know I was wrong. I was scared, thinking you didn't reciprocate all the feelings I have for you. But I think I realized how wrong I was when I found you in the lake close to Alfea. I knew you'd be in danger after that and I vowed to protect you."

"Thank you Jason," said Layla, smiling.

"You don't ever have to thank me," said Jason. " You know I'd do anything for you."

"Really, you would?" asked Layla.

"Yeah," said Jason. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't?"

"It's just that no one's ever said anything like that to me before," said Layla.

"What can I say?" asked Jason. "What's a guy supposed to do when he's fallen in love?" He put his hand on top of hers. Layla looked at him in surprise and saw him leaning in towards her. She closed her eyes, leaned towards him, and they kissed. Layla put her hands on his shoulders and he put his around her waist. When they broke apart, they both smiled at each other and that smile was all Jason needed to know she loved him back. They spent a few more minutes looking over the water, their arms around each other. Jason walked Layla back to her room a few minutes later and kissed her good night.

------------

Queen Lyra sighed as she looked out her window, which had a perfect view of the northern beach. She could clearly see Layla and Jason sitting there by the water. She knew Layla loved that boy, but she was dreading more than anything a discussion that was going to come in a few weeks time.

"We should have told her, Aquarius," she said, turning to her husband.

"Why?" he asked. "The agreement isn't finalized yet."

"She has a right to know," replied the queen. "I don't see why you want her to marry this boy. What was his name again?"

"Nabu," replied King Aquarius. "I don't see why you're against it. He comes from one of the best families in Tides."

"She deserves the chance to find true love for herself and she loves Jason very much."

"He says he loves her, but he'll let her down in time, you mark my words."

Queen Lyra turned back to the window and said, "how can you be sure of that? Look at them out there. Does he look like a boy who'll break her heart? And we can't try to warm her up to the idea of an arranged marriage to someone she's never met."

"I was going to introduce her to him at Ariel's wedding," said King Aquarias. "The only reason I didn't was because of Nezaro's intervention."

"So even if we hadn't been under a spell, you wouldn't have allowed her to bring him?" asked Queen Lyra.

"No I wouldn't have," replied the king. "Nabu is a fine lad, he'll be able to take care of her and help her rule the realm successfully."

His tone made it clear that their conversation was over, but Queen Lyra still wasn't happy with it. She knew Layla was under the impression that the reason they had been refusing her requests to bring Jason home was because of Nezaro's spell, but they had only been spelled a few days before the wedding. The real reason was because they had been spending a few weeks making arrangements for a wedding with Nabu parents. It was almost agreed to. The only thing left was to tell the two young ones. She hoped events would intervene again and they could put it off.

She remembered when she had been told of her arranged marriage. She had been so angry at first, but she and her husband had fallen in love with each other in time. The chances of that happening with Layla and Nabu were slim. She sighed as she turned back to the window. She wanted Layla to be happy in love and if she was happy with Jason, then she would try to make her husband see that.

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The next morning, after a good night's sleep and a good breakfast, the Winx Club and the heroes headed back to Magix. Nirvana was awake again and perfectly all right, though she got dizzy very quickly and needed help walking occasionally. They got back to Alfea with no problems whatsoever and went out into the garden to relax. The boys were about to go back to Red Fountain, when Guinevere voiced something that had been in the back of her mind for awhile.

"Layla, you want to tell us about this?" she asked, pulling the journal out of her bag.

"Oh great, I was beginning to think you guys had missed it," said Layla, taking it.

"So, when did you start writing in there?" asked Stella.

"The day after Icy, Darcy and Stormy stole our powers last semester," said Layla. "I wrote about everything that had happened to us. All I had at the time was a vague feeling that things were only going to get worse, but I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure what was going on. I didn't start connecting the dots until Rancor started attacking us."

"That's kind of the impression we got," said Tecna. "You mentioned something in there about Rancor and Paritho, wondering how they would know each other."

"I know," said Layla. "When Nirvana told us Rancor visited Paritho on Angelicas, I knew there was something wrong with that story and I didn't figure out what it was until after we rescued Musa."

"I know it's strange," said Nirvana. "That day, Paritho told me he was expecting a visitor and I'd have to take whoever it was to see him without question. I didn't push him for an explanation, I was afraid to think what would happen to me if I crossed him. When Rancor showed up, I knew there was something wrong just by the look of him. Remember, I told you I tried to listen in on their conversation. But all I heard were Paritho's plans for Tecna. Then he tried to get Rancor to tell him his plans but he didn't say anything."

"Think carefully Nirvana," said Sky. "Did they say anything else?"

Nirvana stayed silent for a few moments and then finally said, "I know there was something else, but I can't think. I remember Rancor saying he had something sinister planned for Musa and he wasn't going to tell Paritho anything. He said he wanted to keep his plans a secret, that he was going to be successful and then he said something else. Then I heard them coming in my direction and I went back to the kitchen. I spent the rest of that night trying to figure out what he'd meant, but I can't remember what it was now."

"Is there anything we can do to jog your memory?" asked Carlos.

"Yeah, like a spell or something," said Timmy.

"Be quiet, I'm trying to think," said Nirvana. "It was something about that journal."

"What do you mean?" asked Layla. "They mentioned something in here?"

"That's exactly what I mean," said Nirvana. "I remember feeling surprised when I heard him say it and again when we found the journal. It was when…that's it."

"What's it?" asked Musa.

"Rancor said, 'when our master plan comes together, those Winx girls won't know what hit them.' At the time, I had no idea what he was talking about. But now that I think about it, I'm dead sure he was talking about Dracona. The story in there," she said pointing to the journal. "That story is what tipped me off."

"They really want our powers to try and set Dracona free?" asked Bloom.

"That's what it looks like," said Guinevere.

"You were right Nirvana, we're in way over our heads," said Flora. "What are we going to do?"

"We'll think of something, my darling," said Helia, putting his arm around her.

"But another thing," said Andrew. "That journal said something about Guinevere being under a spell. What was it talking about?"

At this, tears started forming in Guinevere's eyes. The memory of the curse she'd spent her life under was still haunting her. She explained it to him as quickly as she could. She didn't like the idea of having to relive the whole thing.

"But you're not descended from Dracona, so it would be a coincidence," said Andrew.

"No it wouldn't," said Bloom suddenly. They all looked at her in surprise and she continued, "just listen to me. You're not descended from Dracona but Icy, Darcy and Stormy are. They hardly let you out of their sight when you were using Flora to open the gate into Rampara. I bet they had you under some kind of spell to make sure nothing went wrong. You were already under that curse, so all they had to do was keep an eye on you, so the full power of Rampara could be uncovered and the gate into Rampara unsealed. You were just one of their puppets. And then when Flora broke the curse, they couldn't control anything you did after that."

"I never thought of that," said Guinevere.

"One last thing, Layla do you really think another girl is going to join the Winx Club?" asked Jason.

"Of course," said Layla. "You read the story of what happened to Dracona and to Queen Aria. If there were nine of them, there has to be one more fairy to join us."

"The question is which one," said Nirvana.

"What do you mean?" asked Riven frowning.

"Angelicas is the only realm that is on any sort of relation with Elements. My parents used to travel there all the time for diplomatic meetings. Every single time, they took me with them. The place is absolute paradise, even more so than Angelicas. The thing is there isn't just one princess of that realm, there are four."

"Really?" asked Musa.

"Yep, four sisters," said Nirvana. "The oldest is Quintessa, fairy of lightning and energy. And before you ask, I can guarantee you she won't be the one to join us. Her sisters were always accusing her of being half-witch."

"What made them say that?" asked Bloom.

"For one thing, she had a devil of a temper. She was always finding fault with everything around her and picking fights, especially with her sisters. She was the strongest of all of them and she knew it. Another thing was she only dressed in black, occasionally with a little white."

"No fairy in her right mind would only wear black," said Stella. "It's one of the biggest fashion faux pas' in all the realms."

"I rest my case," said Nirvana. "The other thing about Quintessa is she had a kind of a split personality. One minute she was the worst person to be around and then she would be as sweet as an angel. And she wasn't under a curse either, that was just in her nature. I avoided her as much as I could, she gave me the creeps."

"What about the other sisters?" asked Brandon.

"Well, after Quintessa, there's Phoenix, the one with the spirit," replied Nirvana. "They call her that because when she wants to, she can actually turn into a phoenix. She had more charisma than any person I've ever met. Then there's Marina, the shy one. I never saw much of her because she was always out swimming. She had a small pool in her room. It led to these series of underwater tunnels and every day, she would dive in and swim out to the ocean. And with a power over water, she could breathe water automatically. Then the youngest one is Airinna. She was the one I spent the most time with. She was always trying to make a good first impression by showing me all this stuff she could do with the air around her. Because wind is also naturally drawn to her, she could hear sounds from miles away just because it was carried over the air. She has tons of spells to control it, but if she lets them down, she can hear every single sound in the realm, even the furthest ones away if she wants to. I think she'll be the one to come or rather I hope she will be; she's my best friend. She'd probably jump at the chance to come here. She hated life in the palace."

"Why?" asked Tecna. "Being a princess can't be that bad."

"Who are you to talk? You only found out you were a princess three weeks ago," said Musa.

"Girls, girls," said Bloom. "Why did Airinna hate the palace?"

"It's hard to explain," said Nirvana. "All four girls had a habit of sneaking out all the time. Phoenix was a master of stealth. She would sneak out almost everyday and never get caught. There was this huge wall around the palace; it was built to keep all four of them inside. They even had it spelled so none of them could fly over it. When I was there, I couldn't even fly over it. It was like their parents were afraid to let them unescorted anywhere in the realm. I never did get a straight answer as to why. That was the first reason. Airinna wanted to get out, see the world, go on an adventure, but she wasn't even allowed to leave the palace. But Phoenix found a weak spot under the wall and she knew the dozens of secret passageways in there by heart. All four of them would leave the palace occasionally and make it a girl's day out. That's pretty much the only fun any of them got. But the thing was, Airinna hated living in the palace, she hated being a princess. Another reason for it was because of the way her mom treated her."

"Her mom treated her cruelly, is that what you're saying?" asked Helia.

"Not cruelly, differently," said Nirvana. "She doted on Quintessa, Phoenix and Marina, spoiled them rotten, but she never showed Airinna any kind of special attention. I think the poor girl was a little bit jealous, I would be too. She didn't get along with her mother particularly well. If it wasn't for comfort from her dad and her sisters, she probably would have left. But anyway, she didn't like palace life and was dreading her 21st birthday. Elements is ruled by queens, the only way it's ruled by a king is if a son is the only heir and even then, he only rules until he finds a wife, then she takes over. There's some kind of exercise a princess of Elements has to go through to become queen, but I don't know the details. The prince has it easy, all he has to do is get married, but the princess has to go through all sorts of rigmarole. Airinna used to say that because Quintessa was oldest, she would probably get the throne. The last thing Airinna wanted was to become Queen, she thought ruling her realm would be a never-ending nightmare."

"Did you see ever see that pendant Layla wrote about?" asked Guinevere.

"The Evenstar pendant," said Nirvana, nodding. "Every time I saw Queen Alexandra, she was wearing it. It is true the Evenstar holds all the power of Elements. It's not hidden someplace or buried deep in a person like all ours have been. It's right there around the queen's neck. I remember she was constantly afraid someone would try to steal it, like they could. It's spelled so that it can't be taken off unless she takes it off voluntarily. And she wouldn't do that if her life depended on it."

"What I'd like to know is why Ms. F didn't tell us all this in the first place," said Stella.

"I'm with you Stell," said Musa. "She warned us about danger but she didn't tell us it was going to be as bad as this."

"She must have had some reason," said Bloom. "I wonder what it was."

"I don't know," said Layla. "I guess all we can do is wait for the next adventure and then we'll see."

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Ms. Faragonda had been listening to the entire conversation from her office. She had been using her magic mirror to watch over them. She was glad they were finally starting to connect the dots. "I had a reason all right," she said. "If I had told them everything last semester, they would never have believed me. They had to be given the chance to figure everything out for themselves. And they've done quite a good job of it so far. And Layla's right also, all they can do is wait for the next adventure. I think they're ready for it."

**Author's Note:** All right, this is the last chapter and everything is good for now. Jason told Layla he loved her. Did you notice she didn't say it back? There's a reason for that, but it's not going to be explained in this story, but in a way later one. I had to start trying to introduce the concept of Nabu into the series. He's going to come in around story eight. It seemed to me like something her parents had been working on for a long time, but didn't say anything because Baltor intervened. She's not going to find out soon because there are two more stories where the events are going to take precedence and then I'm going to weave in season three of the TV show.

I also put in the discussion of the journal to finish tying the stories so far together and to start setting you up for the Princess of Elements, who is going to be the main character of the eighth story of the series. Her, her sisters and Nirvana are going to be the focus of that one. Does anyone want to venture a guess as to a) which sister it will and b) which of the Winx girls has her adventure next? There's only Bloom and Stella left. And remember what I said about how my characters don't die, they just have close calls? This story is going to have some of the closest calls you've ever seen. But you're going to have to wait until May I'm afraid, because school is going to keep me way to busy. But as soon as I'm out for the summer, I'll start writing again, I promise. See you all soon and be sure to stay tuned!


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